HMS Seal (N37) - Crew

Crew

The crew were subjected to routine interrogation in an atmosphere of mutual respect with their German captors. The officers and ratings were separated and held as prisoners of war in a succession of camps until April 1945. The submarine had been adopted by the village of Seal when it was commissioned, and during their imprisonment the crew received considerable support from the villagers.

Two members of the crew managed to escape. Early on, the petty officers and ratings were held at Stalag XX A at Toruń in Poland. Petty Officer Barnes took part in a mass break out and with a soldier managed to make contact with the Polish underground. They made it to the Soviet border, but the Soviet border guards failed to understand them, robbed and stripped them and told them to run for it. Shots rang out and no more was heard of Barnes, although the soldier made it home.

One of the engineers, Don "Tubby" Lister, made a series of escapes and was eventually sent to Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle. Realizing how hard it would be to escape from there, he and another ERA (Engine Room Artificer), W. E. "Wally" Hammond (from the sunken submarine HMS Shark), insisted on being moved on the grounds that they were not officers. The ruse worked, and they were moved to a more open camp. They escaped from there in late 1942 and made the several hundred mile journey to Switzerland and then home. After three failed attempts, Lieutenant Trevor Beet was transferred to Colditz Castle for the rest of the war.

The bulk of the officers and petty officers had been consolidated into Marlag (Marine-lager) naval camp near Westertimke, where, for most of the war, they led a fairly quiet existence. By April 1945, the Allies were at Bremen, 15 miles (24 km) away, and they were marched off to Lübeck. During the journey, the column came under attack from Allied Spitfires. Shortly after they arrived there, the war came to an end and they returned to England. Apart from Barnes and Able Seaman Smith, who had disappeared overboard when the submarine surfaced, the entire crew survived.

Lieutenant Commander Lonsdale was the only British captain to surrender his ship to the enemy in the entire war, and he and the officer he left on board, Lieutenant Trevor Beet, faced the inevitable court-martial in 1946; they were honourably acquitted.