Thomas Crisp
Thomas Crisp | |
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First World War
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Awards | Victoria Cross Distinguished Service Cross |
Thomas Crisp VC, DSC, RNR (28 April 1876 – 15 August 1917) was an English sailor and posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross. Crisp, in civilian life a commercial fisherman operating from Lowestoft in Suffolk, earned his award after being killed during the defence of his vessel, the armed naval smack Nelson, in the North Sea against an attack from a German submarine in 1917.[1]
Crisp's self-sacrifice in the face of this "unequal struggle" was used by the government to bolster morale during some of the toughest days of the
Early life
Thomas Crisp was born into a family of shipwrights and fishermen in Lowestoft, one of ten children to William and Mary Anne Crisp. Although his father was the owner of a successful boatbuilding firm and thus could afford an education for his children, Thomas did not enjoy school, instead showing a "marked preference for quayside adventure to school routine".[3]
Leaving school, Thomas took to the sea, spending several years as a herring fisherman before joining a fishing trawler out of Lowestoft. He was a natural to the work, being a remarkably good sailor, but tired of it quickly and joined the Atlantic steamship SS Mobile, becoming her quartermaster and making several trans-Atlantic voyages.[3]
In 1895, aged 19, he met and married Harriet Elizabeth Alp and settled with her at 48 Staithe Road in
When the
War service
In early 1915, Tom Crisp Jr left the vessel to join the Royal Navy. A few weeks later the U-boat threat expected so many months before arrived, as submarines surfaced among the undefended fishing fleets and used dynamite to destroy dozens of them after releasing the crews in small boats. This offensive was part of a wider German strategy to denude Britain of food supplies and took a heavy toll on the fishing fleets of the North Sea. George Borrow was among the victims, sunk in August, although it is not known if Tom Crisp (father) was aboard at the time.[5] While temporarily working in a net factory following the loss of his vessel, he was scouted by a Navy officer recruiting experienced local fishing captains to command a flotilla of tiny fishing vessels, which were to be secretly armed. The boats were intended to be working fishing vessels fitted with a small artillery piece with which to sink enemy submarines as they surfaced alongside. In this manner it was hoped they would protect the fishing fleets without the diversion of major resources from the regular fleet, in the same manner as Q-ships deployed in the commercial sea lanes.[6]
Agreeing to this proposal, Crisp became first a Seaman and by mid-1916 a Skipper in the Royal Naval Reserve, arranging for his son to join the crew of his boat, the HM Armed Smack I'll Try, armed with a 3-pounder gun. On 1 February 1917 in the North Sea, I'll Try had its first confrontation with the enemy when two submarines surfaced close to the smack and her companion the larger Boy Alfred. Despite near misses from enemy torpedoes, both smacks scored hits on their larger opponents and reported them as probable sinkings, although post-war German records show that no submarines were lost on that date.[7] Both skippers were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and a present of £200 for this action, and Crisp was offered a promotion and transfer to an ocean-going Q-ship.[8] He was forced to turn down this offer due to his wife's sudden and terminal illness. She died in June 1917.[citation needed]
Victoria Cross action
In July, I'll Try was renamed
With such a heavy disparity in armament between the smack's 3-pounder and the submarine's 88 mm deck gun the engagement was short lived, the submarine firing eight shots before the Nelson could get within range of her opponent.
Nelson being attacked by submarine. Skipper killed. Jim Howe Bank. Send assistance at once.[11]
The sinking smack was abandoned by the nine unwounded crew, who attempted to remove their captain, who ordered that he should be thrown overboard rather than slow them down. The crew refused to do so, but found they were unable to move him and left him where he lay. He died in his son's arms a few minutes later.[12] It is said that he was smiling as he died and remained so as the ship sank underneath him.[13] Ethel & Millie had just arrived on the scene as Nelson sank, and her captain Skipper Charles Manning called for Nelson's lifeboat to come alongside.[14] Realising that this would greatly overcrowd the second boat, the survivors refused and Manning sailed onwards towards the submarine, coming under lethal fire as he did so. His vessel was soon badly damaged and began to sink.[12]
The crew of Ethel & Millie then abandoned their battered boat and were hauled aboard the German submarine, where the Nelson survivors last saw them standing in line being addressed by a German officer. The seven British sailors of Ethel & Millie were never seen again, and much controversy exists surrounding their disappearance. Prevailing opinion at the time was that they were killed and dumped overboard by the German crew or abandoned at sea without supplies, as the German government had made it clear they regarded the crews of merchant ships who fought back against U-boat attacks as francs-tireurs, and thus liable to execution.[15] These scenarios cannot be substantiated. Another theory is that they were taken prisoner and killed when the submarine was sunk.[3][16] UC-63 has been named[by whom?] as the submarine that sank both vessels.[17]
The survivors of Nelson drifted for nearly two days until they arrived at the Jim Howe Buoy, where they were rescued by the fishery protection vessel Dryad. A pigeon named "Red Cock" had reached the authorities in Lowestoft with news of the fate of the boats and caused the Dryad to be despatched to search for survivors.[6]
A court of enquiry praised the surviving crew and their dead captain and authorised the award of the Victoria Cross posthumously to Thomas Crisp and
Thomas Crisp, VC, DSC, is memorialised on his wife's gravestone in Lowestoft Cemetery.[citation needed]
Citations
Admiralty, 2nd November, 1917
HONOURS FOR SERVICES IN ACTION WITH ENEMY SUBMARINES
The KING has been graciously pleased to approve of the award of the following honours, decorations and medals to officer and men for services in action with enemy submarines: —
Posthumous Award of the Victoria Cross.Skipper Thomas Crisp, R.N.R., 10055D.A.
(Killed in action).
The London Gazette, 30 October 1917[19]
Action of H.M. Armed Smack "Nelson" on the 15th August, 1917.
On the 15th August, 1917, the Smack "Nelson" was engaged in fishing when she was attacked with gunfire from an enemy submarine. The gear was let go and the submarine's fire was returned. The submarine's fourth shot went through the port bow just below the water line and the seventh shell struck the skipper, partially disembowelling him, and passed through the deck and out through the side of the ship. In spite of the terrible nature of his wound Skipper Crisp retained consciousness, and his first thought was to send off a message that he was being attacked and giving his position. He continued to command his ship until the ammunition was almost exhausted and the smack was sinking. He refused to be moved into the small boat when the rest of the crew were obliged to abandon the vessel as she sank, his last request being that he might be thrown overboard.
(The posthumous award of the Victoria Cross to Skipper Thomas Crisp, D.S.C., R.N.R., 10055 D.A., was announced in London Gazette No. 30363, dated 2 November 1917).
The London Gazette, 20 November 1918[20]
Post-war remembrance
After the war, a small display in memory of Crisp was set up in Lowestoft Free Library and another in
Crisp's name is inscribed on the Chatham Naval Memorial for those lost at sea during the First World War,[22] as well as two church memorials in Lowestoft to the town's war dead, St. John's and St. Margaret's.[23] The latter church also contains a "VC Bell" dedicated to his memory.[24] Tom Crisp Way, a street in his native Lowestoft, is named in his honour.[25]
In a footnote to the action, the pigeon "Red Cock", which brought news of the engagement to the authorities, was stuffed upon his death and was mounted in the Thomas Crisp display at Lowestoft Town Hall for many years before being reportedly relocated to a museum in South Kensington.[6]
Notes
- ^ The identity of the submarine involved in this incident has never been positively ascertained, but various sources list UC-41 or UC-63. No surviving German submarines reported the incident in their logs.
- ^ a b The Naval VCs, Stephen Snelling, p. 175.
- ^ a b c The Naval VCs, Stephen Snelling, p. 180.
- ^ The Naval VCs, Stephen Snelling, p. 181.
- ^ a b The Naval VCs, Stephen Snelling, p. 182.
- ^ a b c d Sea Heroes, Thomas Crisp VC, DSC, Hero of the Q–Ships, Suffolk Records Office, Retrieved 28 January 2007.
- ^ The Naval VCs, Stephen Snelling, p. 183.
- ^ "No. 29997". The London Gazette (Supplement). 23 March 1917. pp. 2951–2952.
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boat Types: Type UC II". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 2 February 2007.
- ^ Sources dispute the number of carrier pigeons carried by Nelson; Snelling states that four were released of which one reached home in good time, while the Suffolk Records Office claim that only one was carried aboard.
- ^ The Naval VCs, Stephen Snelling, p. 177.
- ^ a b The Naval VCs, Stephen Snelling, p. 178.
- ^ Symbol of Courage, Max Arthur, p. 305
- ^ Skipper Charles William Manning, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Retrieved 22 January 2007.
- ISBN 0-86138-011-8
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boats: UC-41". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 22 January 2007.
- ^ "Ships hit by UC 63". Uboat.net. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
- ISBN 978-1473876149.
- ^ "No. 30363". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 October 1917. p. 11316.
- ^ "No. 31021". The London Gazette (Supplement). 20 November 1918. p. 13695.
- ^ Waveney District Council www.victoriacross.org.uk, Retrieved 28 January 2007.
- ^ "Skipper Thomas Crisp". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 22 January 2007.
- ^ "St. John's Church War Memorial, Lowestoft". roll-of-honour.com. Retrieved 28 January 2007.
- ^ "St. Maragret's Church War Memorial, Lowestoft". roll-of-honour.com. Retrieved 28 January 2007.
- better source needed]
References
- ISBN 978-0-906324-27-1.
- Arthur, Max (2004). Symbol of Courage, A History of the Victoria Cross. Sidgwick & Jackson. ISBN 978-0-283-07351-9.
- Harvey, David (1999). ISBN 978-1-84342-356-0.
- Snelling, Stephen (2002). ISBN 978-0-7509-1395-9.
- "Sea Heroes, Thomas Crisp VC, DSC, Hero of the Q–Ships" (PDF). Suffolk Records Office. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 January 2007.
External links
- Snelling, Steve (2002). "Heroes of the Bronze Cross". Eastern Daily Press. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 10 November 2008.