The Mystery of the Frogman Lionel Crabb

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 17 April 2023

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On the night of the 19th of April, 1956, the decorated navy diver Lionel Crabb went missing. A veteran of the Second World War, Crabb had been sent on a secret mission by MI6 to investigate a Soviet cruiser in Portsmouth Harbour. After pulling on his diving gear and checking his oxygen supply, Crabb slipped into the dark waters, never to be seen alive again. Was he killed by the Soviets? Was he killed by the Brits? Or can this all be chalked up to a bewildering accident? To this day, the government refuse to declassify the crucial files relating to his death. Dan is joined by Giles Milton, a writer and host of the podcast Cover Up: Ministry of Secrets, to untangle this mysterious web and find out what really happened to the frogman Lionel Crabb.

Produced by James Hickmann and edited by Dougal Patmore.

If you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can email us at ds.hh@historyhit.com, we'd love to hear from you!

If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe to History Hit today!

Download the History Hit app from the Google Play store.

Download the History Hit app from the Apple Store.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Investing for your future can be a smart option, but when life happens,
0:05.6	flexibility is a plus. With CMC Invest Plus Plan, you can invest in a flexible
0:11.9	stocks and shares' ICER and take control of your investing journey. With the ICER deadline
0:17.2	approaching, sign up today to get a £50 welcome bonus and upgrade to the Plus Plan with your first
0:23.2	three months free. Visit CMCinvest.com slash Plus Plan, capital at risk TNC's apply.
0:33.1	Hi everybody, welcome to Dan Snow's history. Today we're talking about the man who might have
0:37.2	been Bond, James Bond. To be fair, if you ask any Brit, any Brit with an interest in history,
0:42.0	they also seem to have a different candidate for the person that they think
0:45.1	in flaming based Bond on. My wife family thinks it was their granddad and they're not alone.
0:50.8	There's a lot of granddads out there who allegedly gave Fleming the idea for Bond.
0:55.7	But anyway, this one is one of the lead candidates. He's man called Lionel Krab, Buster Krab.
1:01.6	He's a raw Navy diver who performed acts of daring do during the Second World War,
1:07.6	ferocious underwater struggles with elite access, frogmen, terrifying stuff. But he disappeared
1:14.9	on the 19th of April 1956, apparently on a mission for British secret services to investigate
1:22.9	a Soviet naval cruiser in Portsmouth, Harbour. No one has ever satisfactorily explained what happened
1:31.3	that night. Was he killed by the Soviets? Was he killed by the Brits who already might defect?
1:38.6	Was he killed in the accident like that, but in Tintin where the anchor drops into water and wax
1:42.8	that frogman in the head? Well now, Giles Milton, great friend of this podcast,
1:48.1	been on many times before, wonderful best-selling author, hugely prolific historian. He has got a new
1:54.0	podcast series. It's called Cover Up, Ministry of Secrets. And he unravels a true story
2:01.6	what he thinks happened to Buster Krab. It's a bit of a mission. It's not an easy thing to unravel,
2:08.4	because the government files, concerning the case, are not scheduled to be open until 2057.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from History Hit, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of History Hit and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.