T R T Anchor

This photo of the TRT's anchor was taken by Matt Waterson on a recent TRT dive ! It's the first photo of the wreck that has been added to the blog for a long time , I hope more will follow! The plan was to create an extensive photo record!

TRT Dives

You wait for ages then all of a sudden two come along! Well that's how it was on Bank Holiday Monday (29/8/05) when TWO dives were made on the TRT! After all the false starts / near misses some dives have been done! Whey hey - hang out the bunting! And if that was not enough the divers reported DOLPHINS on the site / wreck (I kid you not!) The sighting has been reported to the Whale & Dolphin Conservation Society and should (we hope appear at some stage on their website :-

http://www.wdcs.org/sightings

A full report from the dives is awaited!

Anyone seen the TRT?

The TRT dive planned for Sun 21st August was redirected to the Clodmore - with this number of cancelled TRT dives it is time to recognise the wreck is a 'Ghost Ship' , that is , a wreck about which there is much speculation but very few , if any, corroborated sightings! When a wreck becomes a 'Ghost Ship' and there are so little first hand obseravtions you have to start questioning whether or not it exits at all! If anybody wishes to prove me wrong I'd be happy to receive a dive report on the TRT!

Two TRT Dives on the Cards!

Two dives on the TRT are planned for 21st and 29th August - if these take palce (!!) they should be very good - this is the best time of the year for viz! Hopefully someone will tell us something new about the wreck and maybe sketch it or photo it! Oink , Oink - look out low flying porcine!

Dive Plans

The TRT dive planned for the evening of Saturday 6th August was cancelled due to insufficient numbers of divers on the booking list - the TRT is surely jinxed!

Two more dates are planned :-

Sunday 21st August , meet at 1130hrs, and

Monday 29th August (BH) , meet ar 1215hrs

Get your place booked!

Third Dive Plan Cancelled!

It's a roll over! There , once again, were no winners on the TRT dive planned for 31st July 'cos for the third time in succession the dive was cancelled! We are running very low on excuses and so had to spend some time thinking up this one:-

The reason it was cancelled was because all our boat skippers were unavailable, the Skipper who had been pencilled-in to take the boat out was delayed on his return flight to the UK from the Red Sea and as a result could not take the boat out.

We are now opening a book on the fourth attempt - it's a bit like an accumulator, get your bets in - someone , one day is going to win big time!

Another TRT Dive Cancelled!

The TRT project dive planned for Sat 2 July was cancelled due to strong SW winds! The project team are now proposing a TRT dive on Sun 31st July , meeting at 12 midday. Third time lucky ?

TRT Dive Cancelled!

Everything was set for the "Wreck Tour" , dive team ready , boat ready but unfortunately no one had remembered to sort the weather out! Force 5 winds, low surface vis, rain and recent poor underwater vis sealed the fate of the dive - cancelled! John Liddiard used the freed-up time well by providing the dive team with insights of work & techniques along with some helpful tips on identifying steam ship faetures. Another date will be planned!

Triple Expansion Engine ~ Sketch

I am indebted to John L of Diver Mag who has pointed out that the sketch added to this blog on Tuesday, December 14, 2004 is a plan view of a triple expansion engine! Reckon I should have known that - but didn't ! Thanks John.

T R Thompson "Wreck Tour" Dive ~ 19th May 2005

19th May has been chosen for the DIVER Mag "Wreck Tour" . The dive team will soon be selected. The plan is for the team to dive on Nitrox for this dive . Max depths I have reached on this dive site is 30.5m , and 'shallowest' Max depth has been 27.4m , should give some indications for calculating Nitrox blend! Fingers crossed for good vis!

T R Thompson ~ Wreck Tour

Hoping to put together a 'Wreck Tour' during the merry month of May. Planning is now underway ~ and who knows the TRT project may get a bit of a boost with regard to new information and more interest! Watch this space!

War Diary UB57

Now for the next page... if anybody can translate these pages from "naval" German I can send them the files...

War Diary UB57

Here are the relevant entries from the KTB. The note in the column at the top of the right hand page which names the Thompson was anotated in 1940 (or so it says) - the formula that starts "T.E" seems to be a ranging calculation for the torpedo attack.

War Diary UB57

I am awaiting a reply to an e-mail from a researcher who I believe to have a copy of the KTB (Kriegstagebuch) or War Diary of UB-57 - This almost certainly will have an entry regarding the sinking of the Thompson, and is genuine 24-carat gold as far as information is concerned. It IS source material.

More news as it happens...

Johannes Lohs ~ Image

This photo was taken from a book entitled "Fips - Legendary U-Boat Commander" which refers to Werner Fuerbringer (centre) - The other officers are (l-r) KK Bartenbach, Hans Valentiner, Fuerbringer, Johannes Lohs (light coat) and Paul Hundius. Therefore, the central character is the only man NOT to receive the "Pour Le Merit" decoration (known to fliers as The Blue Max). These are 5 of the most important U-Boat captains of WW1... it's also one of the only other photo's of Oblt Lohs I've been able to find.

Submarine Crew ~ Ranks & Titles

Some translations & suggestions from my fine, German speaking, friend , Mike H: -

Heizer : Boilerman or Stoker (literally 'heater')
Ober : Senior (literally 'upper' or 'over')
Maat : Ship's Mate
Maschinistenmaat : Engineer's Mate
Matrose : Sailor or Rating
Oberbootsmannsmaat : Chief Petty Officer's mate (?)
Bootsmann : Boatswain or Chief Petty Officer
Steuerman : Helmsman

The Crew Of UB-57

The following are the names of the crew on UB-57 when she struck a mine on 14/08/1918. The likelyhood is that most of these men were there when the Thompson was torpedoed, as it was more common practise to rotate commanders through boats than to move crew. Crew were, I believe, only moved or replaced when necessary (i.e. sickness) as they trained as a team and were used to working together.

I'm working to translate the ranks into English at the moment, and will amend this post accordingly when I have them all - I'll also sort out the formatting which seems to have gone a bit to cock!

Name Rank
Albert U-Heizer
Ausborn U-Maschinistenmaat
Baumert U-Oberheizer
Beck U-Heizer
Berger U-Matrose
Bermpohl U-Heizer
Blumenburg U-Oberbootsmannsmaat
Degener U-F.T.Maat
Ebel U-Heizer
Fleischmann U-Matrose
Flügge U-Obermaschinistenmaat
Fuchs Siegfried Oberleutnant z.S
Fuchs Rudolf U-Obermatrose
Gehrau U-Maschinistenmaat
Knüpfer U-Oberheizer
Kretschmann U-Heizer
Lohs Oberleutnant z.S
Münzl U-Obermatrose
Möhner U-Matrose
Oppelland U-Maschinistenmaat
Petersen U-Obermaschinistenmaat
Raecke U-Maschinist
Röbel U-Matrose
Schanz U-Oberheizer
Scheele U-Matrose
Schmidt Marine Ingenieur
Schröter U-Heizer
Specht U-Steuermann d.Res
Stoll U-Heizer
Theisen U-Maschinistenmaat d.Res
Torner U-Bootsmannsmaat
Töpfer U-Maschinistenmaat
Wehlitz U-Obermatrose
Weller U-Matrose

Sketch of TRT Machinery

Sketch of Machinery on the T R Thompson
Something of an artist's impression of one section of machinery on the wreck of the T R Thompson. If any one would like to hazard a guess as to what it is please add your comments! The sketch relates to machinery that is several metres across in size.

The Portsmouth Naval Memorial

Seaman, Charles Gowan CRAIG, Royal Naval Reserve. Age 22. Son of Joseph and Isabella Dalgetty Craig, of 3, Craig's Close, Gourdon, Montrose and Signalman George SIMPSON , Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, two members of the T R Thompson crew are commemorated at the Portsmouth Naval Museum.

A plague at the Memorial records:-

"This memorial commemorates officers ranks and ratings of this Port who died at sea during the wars 1914-1918 and 1939-1945. Actions in which they fought are recorded in the registers and on the memorial itself Similar memorials at Plymouth and Chatham commemorate men and women of those manning ports while merchant seamen who died from enemy action and have no grave but the sea are commemorated in Liverpool and at Tower Hill in London...."

Source: http://www.memorials.inportsmouth.co.uk/southsea/naval.htm

Memorial at Barry

This image is of one of the brass plaques on the memorial - it shows the names of Eveleigh and Davies.