TED BRIGGSTed Briggs, who spent a lifetime at sea, despite the horror of his wartime service, died on 4 October, 2008, aged 85.It was in May 1941 that his ship, HMS Hood, embarked on its mission intercept the German battleship Bismarck in the Denmark Straits. The Allied ship engaged Bismarck at long range but Bismarck returned fire and the resulting explosion broke her in half, resulting in the loss of 1,415 men. Mr Briggs was one of three who survived.Albert Edward Pryke Briggs was born on 1 March, 1923 in Redcar, Yorkshire, three months after his father had died in a fall from a ladder.His book, Flagship Hood, tells how he first saw the ship in the Tees when he was 12 and was beguiled by her "grace and strength".He joined the Navy at the earliest age possible, when he was 15, and after completing his training in Ipswich on HMS Ganges, was posted to Hood in 1939.He was on deck as an 18-year-old Flag-Lieutenant's messenger when the shell from Bismarck hit the ship dead centre, setting off the ammunition on board and resulting in it sinking within three minutes.In his book Mr Briggs recalls being sucked down beneath the sea and then propelled out again.He later wrote: "I was ready to meet my God. My blissful acceptance of death ended in a sudden surge beneath me, which shot me to the surface like a decanted cork in a champagne bottle. I turned, and 50 yards away I could see the bows of the Hood vertical in the sea. It was the most frightening aspect of my ordeal, and a vision which was to recur terrifyingly in nightmares for the next 40 years."He swam clear with the only two other survivors, Midshipman William Dundas and Able-Seaman Bob Tilburn, and all three suffered the icy seas of the North Atlantic for three hours before being rescued. Both Mr Dundas (1965) and Mr Tilburn (1995) predeceased Mr Briggs.In an interview, Mr Briggs said recently: "Hardly a day goes by when I don't think about it. I once said to an old Navy man that I sometimes wished I could forget about it. He said to me: 'You are a naval curio, and you will always remain so. You will never be allowed to forget.'"His wartime career continued with service on HMS Mercury, HMS Royal Arthur and later HMS Hilary. He returned to HMS Mercury as a Fleetwork Instructor before promotion to Leading Signalman and then Yeoman of Signals.He reached the rank of lieutenant and was appointed MBE in 1973.His naval service continued until retirement in 1973 when he joined an estate agency in Hampshire.But Mr Briggs would not forget his devotion to the sea: he joined the HMS Hood Association and was elected its first President.His dramatic wartime exploits left him in demand as an after-dinner speaker. He lectured about Hood and was the subject of television and radio documentaries.He even went back to the wreck site in 2001 to unveil a plaque paying tribute to the lost crew.Mr Briggs was survived by his second wife, Clare.
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