At 9.40am, June 1st 1939, His Majesty's Submarine Thetis sailed
from Birkenhead under the command of Lieutenant Commander G.H.Bolus
(RN). The purpose of the day was to make a diving trial. This was to
be Thetis's first venture as a submarine proper. On board were 103
persons, fifty more than her normal crew. Of the extra fifty on
board 8 were Naval Officers some commanding their own Submarines
anxious to see the performance of this new class of Submarine. The
others were employees of Cammell Laird and Vickers Armstrong. Also
there were two employees of a catering firm on board for the
reception that usually follows the trials, and finally the Mersey
Pilot, Norman Willcox. Thetis headed out to Liverpool Bay escorted
by the Liverpool Screw Towing and Lighterage Company's tug Grebecock
captained by Mr A E Godfrey. It was also the duty of the tug to take
the passengers from Thetis before she commenced her first dive. At
1.30 p.m. the tug received a signal from Thetis that all passengers
had decided to remain on board Thetis and that the dive would
commence.
At
precisely 2 p.m. there was a "whoosh" as air rushed out of Thetis
tanks, clearly heard by the crew on board the tug, Thetis had opened
her main vents. For the next 50 minutes the crew on board Grebecock
watched the Thetis disappearing slowly below the surface in what was
a dive in "slow time". She had her bow down a slight angle and
appeared to have difficulty getting below the surface then, at 2.58
p.m. she suddenly disappeared beneath the waves. The submarine was a
great loss to the Royal Navy and a family of County Carlow shared
the sorrow with a loss of one of its sons, Tom Bambrick of Bawnree
Tom Bambrick Stoker Royal Navy of Bawnree Co.
Carlow
By Bridget Evans
My
Uncle Tom Bambrick (Stoker) died on the Thetis . He was my mother's
oldest brother. He was born in Bawnree Co. Carlow Ireland the oldest
of eleven children, nine boys and two girls. He went to England to
work and joined the British Navy. He married his wife Mary the
September before he died and she was expecting their first child
when he died. They were living in a flat in London and Mary was not
aware of the sinking of the submarine, but learned of her husband's
death when she saw a newspaper with the headline Thetis Sinks. She
returned to Castlecomer, Kilkenny shortly after his death. She had a
son and called him Tom after his father. She lived into her eighties
and never remarried. Their son Tom still lives in Castlecomer.
My mother is now eighty two and only four of the family are still
alive, he has a photo of Tom on her windowsill in his navy uniform
and often talks of the anguish of the wait for his body to be
returned for burial. He is buried in the family plot in Paulstown
Co. Kilkenny. When he was returned for burial his casket had to be
carried on a horse drawn carriage because it would not fit in a
hearse as it was lead lined and indeed it was the last funeral of
its kind in Paulstown.
Source
http://www.cyber-heritage.co.uk/thetis/subs.htm Steve Johnson
