Thomas Crisp was born on the 28th. April 1876 in Lowestoft, Suffolk, one of ten children of 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".
Leaving school, Thomas took to the sea, spending several years as a herring fisherman before joining a fishing trawler out of Lowestoft After fishing he joined the Atlantic steamship S.S. Mobile, becoming her quartermaster and making several trans-Atlantic voyages.
In 1895, aged 19, he met and married Harriet Elizabeth Alp and settled with her at 48 Staithe Road in Burgh St. Peter near Lowestoft, where they had two sons and a daughter.
Returning to fishing Thomas achieved his mate and then skipper qualifications, entitling him to captain a fishing vessel. In 1902 he was taken on by Chambers Co. to crew and then captain their 62 ton ketch George Borrow, LT956, in which he remained for thirteen years. In 1907 the family moved to Lowestoft and in 1913 Tom Crisp Jr. joined his father's crew.
When the First World War began in July 1914, Thomas was at sea. Unaware of the outbreak of war, he remained in the North Sea for several days, and was surprised on his return to learn that enemy submarines were expected off Lowestoft at any moment. When this threat failed to materialise, Thomas returned to fishing, considered too old for military service and working in an occupation vital to Britain's food supplies. In late September, George Borrow passed the Royal Navy's Cressy class armoured cruisers HMS Aboukir, HMS Hogue and HMS Cressy shortly before they were all sunk off the Dutch coast, with over a thousand lives lost, by German submarine U-9 commanded by Kapitänleutnant Otto Eduard Weddigen. Tom Crisp Jr. later wrote of finding bodies in their fishing nets for weeks afterwards.
In early 1915 Tom Crisp Jr. left the vessel to join the Royal Navy. A few weeks later Germany employed the tactic of their submarines surfacing among the undefended fishing fleets and used dynamite to destroy dozens of fishing vessels after releasing the crews in small boats. The George Borrow was among the victims, stopped and scuttled 15 miles ENE of Cromer, Norfolk on the 11th. August 1915 by UB-10 commanded by Oberleutnant zur See Otto Steinbrinck. There was no loss of life, it is not known if Thomas Sr. was aboard at the time. Following the loss of his vessel, he was scouted by a Royal 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, it was hoped they would protect the fishing fleets. Agreeing to this proposal, Thomas 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, LT649 (built ? Porthleven, Cornwall in 1905, 61 tons), armed with a 3-pounder gun. On 1st. 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 Boy Alfred LT200 (built Brixham, Devon in 1908, 58 tons). Despite near misses from enemy torpedoes, both smacks scored hits on their larger opponents and reported them as probable sinking's, although post-war German records show that no submarines were lost on that date. Both skippers were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) and a present of £200 for this action. Thomas was offered a promotion and transfer to an ocean-going Q-ship. He was forced to turn down this offer due to his wife's sudden and terminal illness. She died on the 12th. June 1917, aged 39.
In July, I'll Try was renamed Nelson and Boy Alfred became Ethel & Millie in an effort to maintain their cover. The boats continued to operate together, and Thomas's crew was augmented with two regular seamen and a Royal Marine rifleman, providing Nelson with a crew of ten, including Thomas and his son.
On the 15th. August 1917 the two smacks were engaged in fishing near the Jim Howe Bank off the Humber. At 2.30 pm, Thomas spotted a German U-boat, UC-63 commanded by Oberleutnant zur See Karsten von Heydebreck on the surface 6,000 yards (5,500 m) away, the U-boat also sighted the smack. The fishing gear was cut away and both vessels began firing, the U-boat's weapon scoring several hits before Nelson's gun could be brought to bear. By this stage of the war, German submarine captains were aware of the decoy ship tactics and no longer stopped British merchant shipping, preferring to sink them from a distance with gunfire.
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. The fourth shot fired by the U-boat holed the smack's bow under the waterline and the seventh tore off both of Thomas' legs from underneath him. Calling for the confidential papers to be thrown overboard, Thomas dictated a message to be sent by the boat's four carrier pigeons, like many small ships of the era, Nelson did not possess a radio set.
"Nelson being attacked by submarine. Skipper killed. Jim Howe Bank. Send assistance at once".
The sinking smack was abandoned by the nine unwounded crewmen, who attempted to remove their captain, Thomas 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. It is said that he was smiling as he died and remained so as the ship was sinking beneath him. 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. 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. 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.
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 which caused the Dryad to be despatched to search for survivors.
For his actions Thomas Crisp was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross (VC).
Citation
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 2nd. November 1917).
The London Gazette, 20th. November 1918.
The medal presentation was made to Tom Crisp Jr. at Buckingham Palace on 19th. December 1917.
Thomas Crisp, VC, DSC, aged 41 is memorialised on his wife's gravestone in Lowestoft Cemetery, Normanston Drive, Lowestoft, Suffolk.