THETIS - The Admiralty Regrets, a Wirral publisher's account of the sinking of the Birkenhead-built sub, is already sold out at many book shops.

It has fuelled renewed public interest in the disaster and Bebington-based publisher Dave Roberts is getting more copies printed to cope with demand.

Mr Roberts, with Wirral Globe and Howard Mortimer, special projects officer with Wirral Council, is also looking at the possibility of a monument in Birkenhead to Thetis. The overgrown Cammell Laird monument, off the A41, is a possible site for a Thetis mural.

BBC Radio 4 play, Close Enough To Touch, recorded from the Birkenhead-based sub HMS Onyx, has been repeated on BBC Radio Merseyside.

So a memorial, with The Admiralty Regrets book, heralds the approaching diamond anniversary of the 1939 disaster.

Included is a location map showing the actual spot where Thetis sank, plus several wrong charted positions during the search of June 1 and 2, 1939.

The search area and spot where Thetis sank are not too far from where the Hamilton Oil Douglas rig is now in Liverpool Bay. The rig often burns off gas at night, so maybe Thetis has an eternal flame after all? - Editor

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