Jeff Knaggs - the Autobiography - my Grandfather

Australian Submarine AE2 Arrival at Portsmouth Feb 17 1914

Crew of HMA submarine AE2 at Portsmouth before Sailing for Australia. A E Knaggs, 2nd from left, 2nd row

AE2 crew (thanks to Peter Stoker)

AE2 crew when Prisoners of War 22 Dec 1915 (thanks to John Skelton)

Australian Submarine AE2 (thanks to Peter Stoker)

My father's father was a merchant seaman and travelled the world. In my grandmother's house there was this big chest with an exotic smell - I think it must have been sandalwood. A bell rang when you opened it. I've no idea what it must have contained - I can remember two Japanese prints that nobody wanted!

Some time before the First World War he decided to emigrate to Australia and, so as to secure a free passage for himself and the family, joined the Australian Navy as a submariner. His ship, the imaginatively named AE2, was built in Barrow-in-Furness (in the North-West of England) and her maiden voyage was to sail to Australia - no submarine had previously sailed more than about 400 miles. After various exploits she arrived in Sydney just about in time for the start of the first world war. She saw some limited action in South-East Asia but then returned to Europe to Join the ANZAC forces in the Gallipoli campaign.

On the 25th April, 1915, the ANZACs landed and, after suffering four days of very heavy casualties, were thought to be on the brink of retreating. On that same day the AE2 broke through the Dardanelles and started causing havoc, sinking one Turkish ship. News of this reached the Australian commander who told the troops to keep fighting - only to sustain thousands of casualties. The submarine didn't last long in those treacherous waters and was eventually crippled, and had to be scuttled. The crew were taken captive by the Turks and my grandfather didn't survive the Turkish prisoner-of-war camp. He is buried in the North Gate Cemetery in Baghdad, Iraq.

My grandfather kept a diary of all this which somehow found its way back to Bristol. I inherited it from my father but now it is in the safe keeping (along with his medals) of the Australian Submarine Historical Collection in Sydney. The captain of the AE2 wrote a book of his exploits (with scant mention of the crew) - "Straws in the Wind" by Commander Henry "Dacre" Stoker.

There are links to the AE2 here.......
History of HMAS AE2
Discovery of AE2
History of Australian Ships