Skegness Magazine

Former Skegness Man’s Gallant Deed
Transport Steered Ship to Safety under a Heavy Fire

The majority of local people will remember Ted Thompson, who was for several years a groom in the service of Dr C. J. Bernard of Skegness. He has performed one of the most thrilling and glorious feats in the war, and the lives of many of his comrades were undoubtedly saved through his splendid action.

A daily contemporary says:- “The story of the great part a trooper in the Lincolnshire Yeomanry played when on a troopship which was attacked by a German submarine in the Mediterranean has just become known in England.
“Trooper Thompson, now a Horncastle man, was greatly responsible for the ship reaching safety. A shell from the submarine swept away part of the bridge, taking with it the steerman. Thompson at once rushed forward and took charge of the wheel, although he had never before been on board.
“He was, of course, ignorant of how to steer, but the captain, while unable to give verbal instructions, made signals as to which was the wheel was to be turned, and throughout the shelling, which lasted over an hour, Thompson stuck to his post in spite of shells bursting near him.”

After leaving Skegness “Ted” entered the service of the Hon. R. P. Stanhope, of Revesby Abbey, as groom. Captain R. Wright, his officer, has written the following letter to his parents:- “Your son by taking the wheel under the orders of the captain of the ship, and steering during the greater part of the time that we were being shelled, did a great deal towards saving all our lives. It was a performance that anyone might be proud of.”