IN 1900 Admiral Sir Arthur Wilson VC, then Third Sea Lord, declared being a submariner was “no occupation for a gentleman”. Roy Davies’s handsome Nautilus (BBC Books, £16.99, ISBN 0 563 37043 2) helps to lay this myth to rest. He concentrates on the stories of a few boats: from the early petrol-driven platforms of the late 19th century up to the first nuclear-powered submarines, and makes copious use of submariners’ oral histories. These stories leave the reader in no doubt that submariners were honourably motivated, driven by deep patriotism, singularly brave – and gentlemen, to boot.
Their “trade” will be regarded by many as underhand and unpleasant, but weigh this against the extraordinary dangers most of them faced: landing agents on a dark beach surrounded by mines, facing a relentless depth charge barrage after torpedoing a target, being welded into a “suicide” torpedo or pioneering untried technology. Nautilus is a tribute to them and to the thousands of submariners who died. Rest in peace, gentlemen.
