Object: Bell from HMS Varbel

Date: 20th C

Description: Bell mounted in a wooden frame, at the base is a wooden shield inscribed ‘HMS Varbel 12th Submarine Headquarters for those who manned the Midget Submarines and Human Torpedoes 1942-1945’. The bell was recovered from a ship named the London Merchant which also had a story to tell, as it was later renamed the Politician and became famous as the ‘Whisky Galore’ ship.

Origin: The bell came from the Kyles Hydro at Port Bannatyne which became HMS Varbel, the headquarters of the 7th Submarine flotilla. The midget submarines (X-Craft) and human torpedoes exercised under the waters of Kames Bay and nearby Loch Striven. Their purpose was to disable anchored enemy shipping