A POCKET TORCH RECOVERED FROM H.M. SUBMARINE THETIS, 1939 co...

Hammer

£180

A POCKET TORCH RECOVERED FROM H.M. SUBMARINE THETIS, 1939

constructed in aluminium with threaded battery and bull's eye lens, the side with soldered brass plaque inscribed HMS THETIS 1939 -- 5½in. (14cm.); together with an account signed by Maurice Pattison and copy diary entries

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Maurice Pattison (b.1920)

Maurice Pattison, now aged 103, was working in Liverpool for Shell in 1939 when the Thetis disaster occurred. He was able to visit Thetis and this pocket torch was salvaged from debris removed in the clean-up and deposited on the quayside, it had already had the copper plate and date soldered to the side. The 275ft Thetis was lost whilst on her final diving trials in Liverpool Bay. A confusing layout of valves and test cocks blocked with enamel paint had led to the bow flooding and resting on the seabed 150ft below leaving 59 crew, together with 25 staff from Cammell Laird and a host of senior naval observers, bringing the total to 103 men stranded in the aft compartments. Four men managed to successfully deploy the escape hatch, however the fifth panicked and drowned in the hatch with the external door open, condemning the remainder to death by carbon monoxide poisoning.