He commanded the submarine that carried
out one of the most daring naval operations of the First World War. He
was also a film actor who worked with Laurence Olivier and John Mills and
an accomplished sportsman who played tennis at Wimbledon.
|
|
|
|
Man for all seasons: Henry Stoker
commanded the AE2,
played at Wimbledon and acted in the
West End
|
|
|
But Henry Stoker's name is hardly known
in Britain, the country where he lived and died.
That is all about to change, after marine
engineers announced plans to raise his submarine from the seabed and turn
it into a museum to his and his men's bravery.
Lieutenant Commander Stoker's boat,
AE2, was the first warship to break through dense minefields protecting
the Dardanelles strait, in Turkey, during the Gallipoli landings in 1915.
Historians believe its successful passage
persuaded the British generals to persevere with the landings, in the face
of strong defences, thus sealing the fates of thousands of soldiers in
the disastrous campaign.
AE2's passage through the Dardanelles
in the early hours of April 25, 1915 - the day of the initial landings
- had followed two unsuccessful attempts by British and French submarines
and by three Allied battleships, which had all been sunk with the loss
of several hundred men.
The channel was blocked by anti-submarine
nets and rows of mines, linked by chains to the sea bed. With sonar not
yet invented, the captain had to sail blind, changing direction whenever
he heard the chains rattling along the hull.
The vessel ran aground twice and even
had to surface under the noses of the Turks, to recharge its batteries
during the voyage from the Aegean. But it finally reached the Sea of Marmara,
at the other end of the strait, from where Stoker signalled his success
to his commanders.
At that point, the generals and admirals
in charge of the Gallipoli landings had been considering removing their
troops, who were facing strong opposition. But after learning of AE2's
achievement they decided to continue with the invasion.
(Allied troops were not evacuated for
another eight months, by which time casualties on both sides had reached
more than 250,000.)
After reaching the Sea of Marmara, Stoker
was ordered to "run amok" among Turkish shipping. However, five days later,
AE2 was hit by shellfire in an encounter with a Turkish gunboat, SULTANHISAR.
The damage left the submarine unable to dive and it had to be scuttled.
The crew were taken into captivity, where four died before the end of the
war. Stoker escaped twice but was recaptured.
The submarine commander, a cousin of
Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula, achieved minor fame after the
war, when he became a film and theatre actor, performing in the West End
and on Broadway. He played alongside Laurence Olivier and John Mills, and
appeared in films such as Brighton Rock and The Man Who Knew
Too Much.
He was also a renowned sportsman, competing
in polo, hurling and the tennis championship at Wimbledon, before becoming
the croquet champion of Ireland, aged 77, in 1962. He died in London in
1966.
Although largely unremembered in Britain,
the Irishman's exploits are well known in Australia, the country for which
he fought.
The British-built AE2 was commissioned
into the Royal Australian Navy, with a crew of British and Australian seamen.
Stoker, a Royal Navy officer, had volunteered to serve with the Australians
after hearing that there was a rich man in Sydney who sponsored poor polo
players.
The report turned out to be untrue,
but by the time he had made the journey from Britain to Australia with
the submarine - a record-breaking voyage for such a vessel - he had become
a minor celebrity.
For more than 90 years, AE2's wreck
has lain on the bed of the Sea of Marmara in about 230ft of water.
It was found in 1998 by Selcuk Kolay,
a marine engineer, and was originally left. But, amid fears that the wreck,
which is well preserved, could deteriorate and become a target for "treasure
hunters" - divers who remove objects - marine archeologists are planning
to raise the vessel and turn it into a tourist attraction.
The plans are supported by Stoker's
great nephew, Walter Jenkins, 58, from Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex. "It would
be a fitting tribute to his achievement," he said.
"We have all read about flying by the
seat of one's pants but what the crew did in getting through that minefield
really was sailing by the seats of their pants."
Terence Roach, from the Submarine Institute
of Australia, whose divers carried out a recent study, said: "The significance
of AE2 is that she showed the way for other submarines to get through the
strait. They later sank about 220 ships and stopped the Turks using ferries
and ports to reinforce their troops at Gallipoli." |