Thomas Crisp

Thomas Crisp
Thomas Crisp, VC
Born	28 April 1876 Lowestoft, Suffolk
Died	15 August 1917 (aged 41) North Sea
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1915–1917
Rank	Skipper
Unit	Royal Naval Reserve
Commands held	HM Armed Smack Nelson
Battles/wars	First World War
Awards	Victoria Cross Distinguished Service Cross

Skipper Thomas Crisp VC, DSC, RNR (28 April 1876 – 15 August 1917) was an English posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross. Crisp, in civilian life a commercial fisherman operating from Lowestoft in Suffolk, earned his award after being killed during the defence of his vessel, the armed naval smack His Majesty's Smack Nelson, in the North Sea against an attack from a German submarine in 1917.

Thomas Crisp's self–sacrifice in the face of this "unequal struggle" was used by the government to bolster morale during some of the toughest days of the First World War for Britain, the summer and autumn of 1917, during which Britain was suffering heavy losses at the Battle of Passchendaele. His exploit was read aloud by David Lloyd George in the Houses of Parliament and made headline news for nearly a week.

Thomas Crisp was born into a family of shipwrights and fishermen in Lowestoft, one of ten children to William and Mary Anne Crisp. Although his father was the owner of a successful boatbuilding firm and thus could afford an education for his children, Thomas did not enjoy school, instead showing a "marked preference for quayside adventure to school routine". Leaving school, Thomas took to the sea, spending several years as a herring fisherman before joining a fishing trawler out of Lowestoft. He was a natural to the work, being a remarkably good sailor, but tired of it quickly and joined the Atlantic steamship SS Mobile, becoming her quartermaster and making several trans–Atlantic voyages.