The Blue Pimpernel - A Forgotten British Hero

In October 1914, the Royal Navy despatched the first pair of a flotilla of E-class submarines to make the perilous journey through the shallows of the Kattegat between Denmark and Sweden into the Baltic. Their mission was to stop the German import of iron ore from Sweden, so important for the German war effort, and to support the Russian Navy. Over the summer of 1915, four further submarines attempted to penetrate into the Baltic, but HMS E13 ran aground and was illegally shelled and torpedoed by the Germans, despite being in neutral waters. However, HMS E19, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Francis Cromie, and the other two were more successful. Indeed, on Cromie’s first patrol after joining the Baltic flotilla, he was able to sink four German freighters carrying the contraband iron ore on a single day. His efforts forced a temporary halt to further imports until the merchantmen could be provided with escorts from German warships. Until then, the German Navy had regarded the Baltic as their back yard and in order to prevent further submarine reinforcement they pressured the Danes to mine the waters. Even so, E19 managed to sink a light cruiser on a subsequent patrol, earning Cromie star status with the Russians to the extent that the Tsar visited the flotilla’s base in Reval (now Tallinn, the capital of Estonia) and bestowed on Cromie the Order of St George, Russia’s equivalent of the VC. Cromie was promoted to commander and in command of the flotilla as 1915 ended.

Over time, Cromie learned Russian and developed very close relations with the Russian Navy’s senior officers and the Russian sailors under his command alike. With his Russian he was able to partake fully in the social scene ashore, too. He was gazetted for the Distinguished Service Order in May 1916 and his flotilla expanded with a staff and four smaller C-class boats. These were sent overland from Murmansk to St Petersburg as the entrance to the Baltic had been completely sealed. It was a tremendous logistics achievement by the Russians. The expanded flotilla was soon in action trying to stem the German advance northwards. The actions of the submariners of the British flotilla both on patrol and ashore earned them much Russian respect for their skill and discipline. However, as 1917 broke, Cromie discovered that leading the flotilla to sink German ships was the least daunting of his challenges.

In March, the first of the 1917 Russian revolutions erupted. With the subsequent indiscipline amongst the Russian soldiers and sailors, Cromie quickly found himself responsible for the protection of not just the innocent civilian population ashore, but Russian sailors and officers, too. On one occasion he had to lead a team of 80 volunteers to tackle a blaze lit by rioters in the town near the British Consulate. Soon he and his men were rescuing Russian officers and their families from the wrath of mutineers, earning him the soubriquet of the Blue Pimpernel. I describe the chaos Cromie faced and his actions in my thrilling novel, Where the Baltic Ice is Thin. The story more or less wrote itself. Fortunately for Cromie and his men, the Russians had no beef with them and such was the prestige of him and his men, Cromie was able to exercise considerable influence over the Bolsheviks and save many innocent lives.

Sadly, and notwithstanding Cromie’s best efforts, the two revolutions of 1917 and ensuing mutinies left the British unable to prosecute the war at sea on their own. Iced in, bereft of the support of the Russians and with no way to resupply the flotilla overland or by sea, Cromie ceased operations and laid up the flotilla for the winter of 1917/18. He was forced to sell his stores of clothing and tobacco in order to buy food for his ship’s company, but he couldn’t pay them. He did, however, reject a bribe from Finnish White Russians to sell them his submarines for £5 million!

Eventually, the Admiralty and Cromie agreed that there was no point in keeping his men in Russia idle over the winter of 1917/18 and they were recalled. It was hoped that they might return in the spring to begin a new campaign of offensive operations in 1918. By this time, the flotilla had withdrawn from their base in Estonia to Finland where they hoped they would be out of reach of the Germans. In typical fashion, the proud submariners cleaned and polished their boats from end to end, even laying out clean deck cloths on the decks before laying up their submarines for the winter. The men then marched to the station to commence the long journey overland to Murmansk and the sea crossing back home, but Cromie had to inform them he had been asked to remain behind.

Thanks to his knowledge of the Russian language and good contacts, MI6 asked Cromie to remain behind as the acting Naval Attaché and he was promoted to acting captain. His task was to set up an intelligence network to spy on the Bolsheviks and a propaganda campaign to try to persuade Russia to stay in the war. His activities quickly brought him to the attention of the Russian Secret Police, the dreaded Cheka! As the Germans advanced towards Finland there was a danger that the British submarines would be captured. Evading the Cheka, Cromie returned to Finland and enlisted the help of civilian volunteers to help him tow the submarines into deep water and scuttle them, along with three British merchantmen loaded with stores of use to the invading Germans. Cromie then focused entirely on his intelligence activities, a fascinating and thrilling true story for another novel!