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Tom Bambrick - Stoker in the Royal Navy
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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.
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 and 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
Source http://www.cyber-heritage.co.uk/thetis/subs.htm Steve
Johnson
