"The Thetis story always fails to mention the fact that the submarine, after beaching at Traeth Bychan, was towed to Holyhead dry dock, where the remaining bodies were removed by volunteers. The old Pontoon House (now demolished) became a make shift mortuary until the bodies were interred at Maeshyfryd Cemetery.
My mother (now deceased) remembers seeing the bodies being taken along the Turkeyshore Road, whilst my father recalls that the smell of the dead hung over the area for weeks.
The Thetis tragedy always mentions Traeth Bychan - never Holyhead. It is a significant fact many historians ignore - yet one that is a part of the whole story."
your comments
Paul Willson,Victoria BC Canada
The Thetis marker is near my grandparents' plot in Maeshyfryd cemetery. One person mentioned that the USN rescued a crew in an accident like Thetis. Yesit was USS Squalus, but she lost half her complement due to flooding. The rescue of the remainder was largely due to their proximity to the USN sub base at New London Conn. Allowed a quick response, and it was way too long for the crew.
Tue Apr 14 10:00:54 2009
Dave Griffiths, Holyhead
There is a new book out called Thetis - Slow Death of a Submarine, with a forword by Len Deighton. It goes into more detail of what happened before, during and after the disaster. Many photos included that I have never seen before. A good companion book to the two others The Admiralty Regrets & Secrets and Scandal. The second is an insight into what happened to the money from the disaster fund and how it was distributed.
Mon Dec 29 10:25:27 2008
Sue Aspinall, West Midlands
My maternal grandfather died on The Thetis and my Mum was the second youngest of 5 girls, she was aged 5 when her Father died and my Nan was left to bring 5 girls up on her own and never remarried. I have never really known much about the disaster but I am trying to learn more for My Mum has it had a profound effect on her life not to have a Daddy when growing up.
Tue Nov 11 15:42:27 2008
Tina Cleaver, Birkenhead
My grandfather Robert Kipling was killed on the Thetis. My mum was 6 months old when he died, my nan was left to bring up 4 children on her own, holding down 3 jobs to make ends meat. Tyhere was thousends of pounds in a trust fund for these people but my nan told me that if she needed anything you had to go and beg the solicitor in Hamilton Square and you never got much, only half of what you really needed. So many women gave up and struggled on and brought their children up alone. The money disappeared. It's in a bank somewhere, but nobody knows where. I feel that not enough was done to save these men and we should have an inquest into the deaths now and we may see that there was a big cover up and someone should pay for leaving these women to bring all the children up in poverty.
Mon Nov 10 09:41:05 2008
LUKE STEPHENSON
I was at university with the nephew of one of the Lairds employees lost on the Thetis. He, the nephew and his father, were both extremely bitter around the failure of the government of the day to save the crew. There is a catalogue of incompetence and indecision in the whole sordid tale. What a lot of people don't realise is that the US navy saved a crew in much the same circumstances prior to the Thetis incident and, perhaps more sadly, that the renamed Thetis was torpedoed in the Med with the loss of all hands. There can't be many ships in history that have lost two crews! Surely a doomed vessel right from the start.
Fri Jul 18 09:16:50 2008
Cyril Richardson, Walsall
My memory of the Thetis was as a boy of ten who went for a walk up Tower hill in Abergele with his Mum and Dad and wondered why all the ships were circling at sea in the distance. When I was about thirty I went up again,with my wife and two boys, enthusing about the view and the historic moment I had unwittingly witnessed from near the tower. The unfortunate thing was that we couldn't even see the sea because all the trees had grown much taller. I can tell you we were all puffed and I wasn't very popular.
Tue Apr 29 09:21:48 2008
Rosemary Smyth (Craig) - Australia
My father was stoker James Craig, who died on the Thetis. I was born on January 1st 1940, in Nr Ireland, my mother was two months pregnant with me when he was lost. I had a brother who was seven years older. My mother went home to Nr Ireland for most of the war and brought us back to Gosport just before the war ended. I remember going to the unveiling of the memorial, at the grave, as a young child, and still have the programme of events. My mother and I emigrated to Australia in 1956 and she re-married when I was 19. She has sadly passed away some years ago. I have never been back but my daughter visited the grave in about 1994. She also visited the museum at Gosport, and the person on duty that day just happened to have been in the boat when they were trying to raise the Thetis, he was eighteen years old at that time. I am deeply moved when I read the comments and when I look up the Thetis website and see the pictures of the tragedy. I have many of these pictures that my mother saved.
Tue Jan 29 09:54:35 2008
Paul Cross, Hull
My Father was thomas George Cross who told me the story of the Thetis saying if things had been different that day I might never have been borm. He had an invatation to go on board the Thetis that day from his Uncle who was in some way involved in the building of the submarine. However on the day his Uncle was taken ill and therefore my Father was unable to go on that fateful voyage. I wondered if anyone might have any details of the story and who is Uncle was. Apparently there were official invatations and I wondered if anywhere in the records a list of the invitees existed
Tue Nov 6 10:04:27 2007
David Kelly
My grandfather Frank Bresner who worked at Lairds died on the Thetis and what upset me was the way my Gran had to struggle the rest of her life with little or no assistance. She remained proud of her husband but ashamed of the admiralty and goverment. Please at least let us remember them all with pride and if any one can help me with dates for memorial services I would be most grateful.
Fri Sep 21 09:56:06 2007
sali, merseyside
there is a museum in Fort Perch Rock, New Brighton dedicated to the Thetis Museum which was put together by the family who live there, all very well presented and respectful, well worth a visit
Mon Jun 25 10:28:32 2007
Anita Bowden Berkshire
Whilst doing family history research I remembered my father telling me about his brother Ernest Mitchell who died in the Thetis disaster. I stumbled across the book The Admirality Regrets and wow what a read! I swelled with pride reading about the heroics of my uncle, Petty officer Mitchell who I now know was the torpedo gunners mate. At the same time my heart broke to know just how close he came to escape as his was the first body out when they finally managed to open the escape hatch. Thanks to this site I now know about the memorial services and will try for 2009, the 60th anniversary of the tragedy. Some comfort though he may not have made it through WW2.
Fri Jun 22 10:43:33 2007
Elizabeth Mills from Oxford
My great uncle, Captain "Joe" Oram, was one of the very few survivors of the Thetis. He died in his 90s in 1986. His biography was published by Pen and Sword Books, "The Rogue's Yarn" by Wendy Harris. He took the burden of "survivor's guilt" to his grave.
Fri Feb 9 09:06:33 2007
Arthur Williams, Hereford
I was an apprentice fitter at Lairds when the Thetis was lost. I later worked on the refit. Terrible memories, I will never forget, I'm 85 this year.
Tue Feb 6 16:40:56 2007
Hilary Myatt
My Gran and Mum watched the failed attempts to save Thetis from the Great Orme in Llandudno, which overlooks Liverpool Bay, where they were on holiday at the time. My Gran lived in Wallasey, less the 5 miles from Cammell Lairds, was a shareholder in the shipyard and had been to Thetis's launch. My Mum remembered my Gran being very upset at what was going on and the trapped men. Gran also contributed the fund that was set up for the victims' families. My father worked for Lairds for many years, his last day being when the yard closed in 1993 and I often went to the yard with him and saw many vessels launched from the nuclear subs onwards.
Wed Jan 24 12:40:57 2007
Margaret Roberts Anglesy
I well remember the Thetis Disaster since I was a child of seven in Moelfre at the time. The slowness of the recovery ships reaching the sub has been well documented in The Admiralty Regrets, Having realised that no more than the four members of the crew could escape and that the boat had sunk below the surface it was decided to tow the sub along the bottom of the sea tightening the hawsers to lift it and move forward for beaching in Traeth Bychan a small cove between Moelfre and Benllech on the East coast of Anglesey.
I recall my mother pointing at the stern of the sub which surfaced first a! nd then the bow. The first bodies to be recovered were brought ashore on the Moelfre Lifeboat, Coxwain John Mathews, they were carried to Holyhead and it was such an ordeal for the RNLI crew that no further victims would be carried up the slip way. it was therefore decided to beach the Thetis in Traeth Bychan and plug the holes in the damaged hull and then tow the boat to Holyhead.
The sinking of the Thetis was rather hushed up as we were about to go to war in 1939. The ashes of Commander Bolus of the Thetis were buried at sea. 99 men perished on the submarine and a diver working on the salvage lost his life bringing the total to 100 plus the crew which lost their lives in it%2! 0in the Mediterranean when renamed Thunderbolt
!
Mon Dec 11 10:51:48 2006
Gerard Sullivan Birkenhead
I was nine years old when this tragedy took place. My abiding memory is the front page picture on the Liverpool Echo that evening. It showed hundreds of mothers and children outside the main gates of Cammel Lairds waiting for news. It is something I will never forget.
Thu Dec 7 16:01:57 2006
John Granter Earle Hastings Victoria Australia
My brother James served in the Royal Navy on Submarines from1940-1946. Also as a young man I saw the Lloyds Register with the photo of the piece of Bituminous Enamel that was jammed in the torpedo outer door. However, there was plenty of time to rescue the crew. The powers that be have a lot to answer for.
Mon Jul 10 09:52:09 2006
Haydon M Summerill
My mother (then Winifred Crouch) worked on the repairs to the Thetis but can't remember due to old age where it was docked - can anyone let me know
Thu Jun 29 09:41:10 2006
Sid Davies, Bramhall, Cheshire
I was in school in Llanudno when the maroon was fired to summon the lifeboatmen who launched the boat and went out to where the Thetis sank. Being curious we ran to the pier and the Liverpool tug which had accompanied the Thetis called at the pier and took a local GP out to the scene.
I went on HMS Conway at Bangor in 1942 and the chap who was courting the Captain's daughter Rosemary was a Lietenant Andrews who was eventually the 2nd in command of HMSThunderbolt - as the Thetis was renamed after being salvaged.
Tue Jun 20 09:55:56 2006
Gwyn Roberts of Holyhead
I would like to take this opportunity to let readers of this page know that there is a remembrance day for the lost crew of the Thetis on the first Sunday in June every year. My neighbour has attended the service at Maeshyfryd Cemetery for many years and then the get-together at the Naval club after, where a lot of decendants meet up. I'm sure if the Maritime Museum was contacted they could give some information about the event.
Mon Jun 5 09:43:38 2006
