Cheater, William Thomas; Able Seaman–Petty Officer; RN/RAN 7999
Tommy Cheater was one of the most colourful members of the crew of the AE2. Born on 20 March 1883 at Ringwood, Hampshire, he was the middle child of a large family.
He joined the RN as a cabin boy in 1898, at the age of 15. He transferred to the submarine service in 1904, and served on Holland A class and B class submarines. He recalled that in the earliest Holland class submarines, a little cage of white mice would always be taken aboard to detect the presence of poisonous fumes.
In 1913 Cheater heard that the new Australian submarines were seeking experienced crew and would be paying extra rates. Along with thousands of other hopeful sailors he applied, and was accepted after a rigorous selection process. By April 1913 he had signed up for five years’ service with the RAN where he was assigned as batman to Captain Stoker and the officers. According to his daughter Gladys, Cheater enjoyed working for Captain Stoker and ‘thought the world of him’.
In the Afion prison camp, Cheater’s duties as batman included going to the local markets to buy food and clothing for the officers. As months passed in captivity, the Afion officers staged plays and concerts for which Cheater bought all the materials for props, sets and costumes, including women’s clothing and veils. Apparently, Stoker and his fellow officers at that time were already planning to escape dressed as women. Gladys Hall remembers her father telling her that he was sent specifically to buy long Arab-style women’s garments.
After three officers, Captain Stoker, Lt Price and Captain Cochrane (both from the E7) escaped, Cheater was singled out and held partly responsible by the Turkish warders. The Turks had traced the escape disguises back to his market excursions. He was beaten badly and thrown into solitary confinement. He later told his family that he was lucky to have survived this, the worst time of his life.
Stoker was recaptured and transferred to officers’ camp at Yozgat. Strangely, Thomas Cheater was allowed to accompany him as his orderly. In a twist of their roles, Stoker visited the recuperating Cheater in England after the war, taking his family food parcels from Ireland.
Cheater re-enrolled in the RAN for a further five years’ service in 1919, and he and his family moved to Australia with assistance from the government and set up home in Mascot, Sydney. Cheater rose in rank to petty officer at the end of his tour of duty in 1924. He re-enlisted in 1939 and served during WWII as a probationary constable in the Naval Dockyard Police. He kept in touch with Captain Stoker.
As Cheater grew older he suffered recurrent nightmares about his past experiences. Researcher Bill Sellars tells a story about how, in extreme old age, Cheater became obsessed by the fear of drowning. When he took his bath, the story goes, he would tie a piece of string between the tap and his big toe so that if he fell asleep it would jerk him awake.
In fact, Cheater remained hale and hearty well into his eighth decade. Each year on Anzac Day he would join his old friends at the RSL club for ‘a drink or two or three’, and he participated in every Anzac Day parade as a genuine Gallipoli hero for as long as he could. When he could no longer physically walk in the parade, he was driven by taxi. He passed away in August 1972, aged 89.
