Father and son both called Athol Lamont both died in wartime tragedies at sea, reveals discovery of sub J6 near Blyth

Dec 11 2011 by Matthew McKenzie, Sunday Sun

WHEN British submarine J6 disappeared beneath the waves for the final time in 1918, it began decades of painful questions for the families left behind.

Now, for one of those families, questions have finally been answered more than 90 years later.

The Sunday Sun told last week how a North East-based diving team had discovered the wreck of a British submarine 40 miles off the coast of Seahouses in Northumberland.

Darkstar diving team were the first people to have seen it in 93 years after it was lost during the First World War.

They identified it as British submarine J6, lost in October 1918. But, after looking into its history, elation at the find turned to sadness when they discovered 15 sailors died on board in a friendly fire incident. For many years, the details of the tragedy were classified to hush it up, and no one had discovered the wreck.

Now, a family has come forward after reading the story, wanting to thank the diving team for solving a mystery that haunted them for years.

Athol Walton, from County Durham, spotted the story in the Sunday Sun and it immediately struck a chord.

His grandmother’s first husband, Athol Davaar Lamont, had sailed out of the Port of Blyth on the J6 for the final time, never to be seen again. He was 26.

Although his wife Jean Lamont, from Blyth, knew he had died, the details were very sparse and the final resting place of her husband was unknown.

What made the situation worse was that she was pregnant with his child at the time. In memory of her husband she gave her son the same name. He grew up and wanted to be like his father, and joined the Navy.