On the 22 and 23 March a group of dedicated ELS members arrived in Gibraltar to attend the H42 Memorial ceremony. It was raining so Roger Parsons, our Chairman, arranged for us to take some light refreshments at a local restaurant.
IT WAS RAINING.
After much food and alcohol was consumed we all returned to the 5 star luxury of the Bristol Hotel where we could listen to the rain hitting the windows for most of the night.
The next day we woke up to Gibraltar in the rain. However, by some stroke of luck, by 1200 hrs the rain did stop but the wind increased to a gentle force 10.
The Ceremony went off without a hitch as you should expect with such a dedicated team in attendance with Mal Hubner and Jeff Jefferies acting as our flag and standard bearers.
It started to rain again, our Chairman was not one to be defeated so proceeded to organise luxury transport (Local bus) to return back to the delights of main street Gibraltar where much more alcohol was consumed.
An evening supper at the same restaurant had been arranged for a final get together during which the two family representatives were presented with a Submarine plaque on behalf of the España Levante Submariners together with over 200 years of their family history that had been compiled by E.L.S. historian Mal Blenkinsopp. Mal B had done some extensive research to compile the history, however, due to contracting Covid, was unable to attend the memorial.
IT WAS STILL RAINING!
In conclusion, it all went down very well.
IT WAS STILL RAINING!!!!!
For those of you who are not aware of this historic evernt:
On 23 March 1922, under the command of Royal Navy Lieutenant Douglas Staley, H42 was practicing torpedo attacks against British destroyers steaming off Europa Point, Gibraltar, when she surfaced unexpectedly only 30 or 120 yards (27 or 110 metres) – sources differ – ahead of the destroyer HMS Versatile.
Versatile, making 20 knots, went to full speed astern on her engines and put her helm over hard to port, but had not yet begun to answer her helm when she rammed H42 abaft the conning tower, almost slicing the submarine in half. H42 sank with the loss of all hands.
An investigation found H42 at fault for surfacing where she did against instructions.
