Attacked by aircraft while laying mines, the dramatic story of HMS SEAL - the first submarine to be captured by the Germans in World War 2.

• The story

• The Coxwain's Diary

• A letter from POW Camp

• Photos and newspaper cuttings

In late April, 1940, Seal left Blyth in Northumberland for Immingham to collect 50 mines for another minelaying operation. For Operation FD7 she was to enter the Kattegat, between Denmark and Sweden, to lay her mines. A large minelaying sub such as SEAL entering such waters,was a particularly frightening and dangerous operation. And so, on April 29th she set sail on yet another patrol. At 2.27am on May 4th, the sound of aircraft sent her into emergency dive, and for the next 29 hours she was hunted by the enemy. After being strafed, bombed and then nearly sunk, Lt Commander Rupert Lonsdale took the decision to surrender in the early hours of 5th May, unfortunately the day of Lonsdale's birthday.

SEAL was sailed into Kiel to face a long engineering and technical "interrogation" by the German Navy's experts, while the crew were taken into captivity.
Fortunately SEAL's ASDIC has been destroyed, but the Germans discovered that the torpedo firing devices were of a better design - Admiral Doenitz subsequently ordered the British design to be introduced. In spite of reservations by German officers, SEAL was repaired and re-fitted, and in the Spring of 1941 she was commissioned into the Kriegsmarine with the mark UB replacing her former name. While the High Command would have liked her to become operational, too many problems were encountered. The High Command began to realise that they would not make a success of turning their prize into a German Navy unit and sending her against British shipping. She was, at the same time, being used for Propaganda purposes, but by mid 1943 she was stripped of equipment and left derelict in Kiel Harbour. Later in the war she met an ingnominious end during an Allied air raid.

After interrogation, the Petty Officers and ratings left Kiel by train and eventually found themselves at Stalag 20A at Thorn, in Poland. One member of the crew, P.O. Barnes, succeeded in escaping along with an army Sgt Major. Taken in by the Polish underground, they reached Warsaw where they lived for three weeks before being guided to the Russian frontier. However, border guards took their watches and money, stripped them and told to run for it. Shots rang out and Barnes was hit and fell, but the Sgt Major escaped unhurt and eventually reached home. Barnes was never heard of again.

In 1941 the Germans opened a Navy (Marlag) camp at Sandbostel (Stalag 10B), between Hamburg and Bremen. Here also were taken the Seal's officers. However, on June 19, 1941, the whole of Marlag was shifted to Westertimke, 20 miles away, where the Officers, Petty Officers and ratings were put into three separate sections. A year later 500 ratings said farewell to their officers when they were taken to Silesia to build factories. Here many of the crew were split up into different working parties and lost contact till after the war.
From the end of 1942 till the end of the war, life at Westertimke went on as well as the prisoners could make it. Some were pre-occupied with escape, others with the Marlag Amateur Operatic Society. Some found a faith in God which was not just another form of "escape" but was to change their lives. Rupert Lonsdale already had a strong Christian faith and had led his men in p
rayers during the enemy attacks on the submarine. He went on to serve God in the Anglican Church.
Of those who continued to try and escape - "Tubby" Lister, Trevor Beet and Clark - it was Lister who was later to make a home run from Colditz.
Accomodation was great improvement at Westertimke, and Clark shared a room with Lonsdale and 4 others. Other inmates included Peter Buckley, the CO of HM Submarine "Shark".

Lonsdale was always concerned for his men, and he was cheered by the association the crew had had with the village of Seal, near Sevenoaks, in Kent. people of the village had adopted the sub during her commissioning. Before the war, "adoption" was not taken too seriously - a few books and records were sent. However, an official committee was formed by Miss Dorothy Coleman, but no sooner had they got organized than the news came that SEAL had been lost with all hands.

Six months later, on finding out the crew were prisoners, Miss Coleman contacted the Admiralty, and soon all the village families were asked to adopt a crew member and keep in contact. Parcels were sent, and before long Miss Coleman had made contact with Lonsdale. She did much in helping look after the crew's welfare; twice she travelled to Liverpool to trace a crewman's family after they were bombed out of their home, and thus had not written to the men. Tom Vidler's wife and children lost their home in Hastings and so journeyed to Seal. Miss Coleman arranged accomodation and Mrs Vidler became the local church verger till the end of the war!

Lonsdale himself regularly sacrificed his monthly ration of letters on behalf of his crew. Thankyou letters that arrived in Seal were the high-spots of the village's existence. After the war the crew visited the village, and paid for a new cricket pavilion to say thanks to the village.

With the Russians approaching, orders came on January 21, 1945, to march westwards. Many of the ratings endured the privations of a 1000 mile walk through Poland, Czechoslovakia and Poland to meet up with the Americans in Germany. Meanwhile the officers at Westertimke thought liberation was at hand, with the Allied armies only 15 miles away. But on April 9th 1945 the whole Marlag camp was forced onto the road. Chaos reigned as fighters shot up the column, and in one raid a great friend of Lonsdale's was killed. Liberation came when they reached Lubeck
In 1946 Courtmartial proceedings were taken against Lonsdale and Lt Trevor Agar Beet for failing to scuttle the sub and allowing it to fall into enemy hands, but they were acquitted.

30th April, 1940
1940hrs..Embarked mines. Sailed from Immingham PM
4th May
0215.....Bombed by German a/c whilst charging batteries on surface. DIVED.
0230.....Proceded to minelaying billet at 40ft.
0800.....Layed mines from 60ft.
0830.....Proceeding "N" at 40 ft; sighted Germans A/S vessels. Altered course to NW at varying depths.
1800.....Boat unaccountably heavy aft. A/S vessels closing.
1825.....Main motors stopped. Boat settling on bottom at 120ft
1830.....Explosion aft. After compartment & mess deck flooded. "Up spirits".
May 5th
0100.....Surfaced. Boat not under control.
0300.....German plane sighted. sporadic action. Two wounded.
0345.....Bombers arrived. Action over! Destroyed C.B.'s
0500.....German trawlers arrive. Wounded embarked.
0530.....Remainder embarked. Sailed for Friederikshaven, Denmark.
May 6th
P.M. Arrived Kiel
June 1st
Arrived Thorn, Poland.

K. Higgins
Coxwain, HMS Seal.
10.12.1944