A rare collection of Second World War memorabilia, once belonging to the first Canadian to win a double honour for sinking enemy submarines, is currently up for auction in the U.K.

And in an effort to bring Lt.-Cmdr. Edward Theodore "Ted" Simmons' precious service items back home, his son designed a website hoping to elicit enough donations to win the private bid.

"It was the only thing I could think of to do to help," John Simmons told CTV.ca in a telephone interview from his home near Orangeville, Ont. "I had to act quickly."

Ted Simmons' adventures at sea were so well known, they even became the subject of a major motion picture, "Corvette K-225", directed by Howard Hawks and starring Randolph Scott.

• You can find John Simmon's website on the right-hand side

On a frigid September night in 1941, Simmons and his team aboard HMCS Chambly attacked a German U-501 submarine threatening a convoy of Allied merchantmen off the coast of Greenland.

After surrounding the enemy sub and forcing it to surface, Simmons leapt aboard the vessel with his crewmen in tow. They were in search of code books and a cipher machine -- a secret communication device commonly used by German forces.

"Hands up!" Simmons ordered the enemy aboard the U-boat. He seized an English-speaking German and demanded to be shown the bunkers below. His captive refused, protesting "No good, boat alles kaput!"

Brandishing a 45 calibre pistol and a flashlight, Simmons hurried down the ladder into the hatch, only to discover the sub was sinking. Before long they would all be sucked into the depths of the ocean.

Abandoning all hope of recovering enemy intelligence, Simmons ordered everyone, including the prisoners, overboard and into life boats.

The rafts filled up and Simmons was left behind. Canadian naval protocol of the time meant there was little hope the Chambly would ever return for him.

Simmons' son, John, remembers the story as his father used to tell it.

"He was left alone bobbing in the waters of the North Atlantic for about 30 minutes," Simmons said.

"He floated along according to the North Star. He guessed his vessel's navigation."

Sure enough, the commander's crewmen spotted his life preserver in the cold and choppy waters and pulled him to safety.

For his "bravery and enterprise" in the sinking of the U-501, "Ted" Simmons received the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) in 1942.

A short time later, he received another Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for his "courage and resourcefulness" in leading HMCS Port Arthur in a successful offensive against a lurking Italian submarine, the Tritone, off the coast of Algeria.

Simmons remembers seeing the medals mounted on the walls throughout his childhood home. Later in life, his father moved to England and took the collection with him.

Simmons' half-sister in England gained ownership over the collection when his father died in 1988. She recently put the items up for sale at the Wallis and Wallis auction house.

Simmons would like see this part of his family's -- and this country's -- history back on Canadian soil.

"To lose this part of our military history would be sad," Simmons' said.

The collection, including seven medals, photos and dispatch records, is valued at roughly $40,000.

"I know the Internet's power," said Simmons, who manages websites for a living.

If 2,000 Canadians donate $20 each, that might be enough, Simmons said.

The CFB Esquimalt Naval and Military Museum has agreed to display the collection, which includes an original "Corvette K-22" movie poster.

Simmons has sought the help of the Royal Canadian Legion and Canadian War Museum but strict policy prevents both organizations from making bids at private auction.

"It drives up the price and they don't want to set a precedent," Simmons said.

Though he is "nowhere near" raising the amount of money necessary to purchase the collection when the items go up grabs to the highest bidder on Nov. 18, Simmons said he is encouraged by the "groundswell of support" coming from the area around his father's naval base in Victoria.

"Momentum around the cause is building," he said.

"It's a compelling war story regardless if it was my father," Simmons said. Successful attacks against enemy submarines were major news events on this side of the Atlantic and helped boost Canadian morale in the war's early days.

If he wins the bid, Simmons would like to see a naval ship deliver the collection to the museum in Esquimalt.

If he loses the bid, Simmons promises to donate all the funds raised to the museum in his father's name.

Simmons thinks the effort to bring the collection home would make his father proud.

"He'd be in agreement too."