High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Skipper Thomas Crisp VC, DSC, RNR (28 April 1876 – 15 August 1917) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Crisp earned his award during the defence of his vessel, the armed naval smack HMS Nelson, in the North Sea against an attack from a German submarine in 1917.