MYSTERY V.C CRASHES

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXI, Issue 10922, 23 September 1932, Page 4

MYSTERY V.C CRASHES

SEAPLANE PLUNGES INTO RIVER. Hero of a daring exploit in the Baltic during the operations against the Bolsheviks in 1919, Comdr. A. W. S. Agar, V.C., D. 5.0., commander of H. M. Sloop Scarborough, on the West Indies station, was seriously injured and two companions were killed when a seaplane in which they were flying over the Acushnet River, at New Bedford, Mass., crashed into the water and sank. Comdr. Agar floated free from the sunken machine. The two other occupants, however, were trapped in the wreckage at the bottom of the river.

They were the pilot, Mr Philip Mostrom, manager of the Fairhaven Airport, and Mr Philip Powell, a member of the reception committee which welcomed Comdr. Agar and the officers and men of the Scarborough to New Bedford. Comdr. Agar had been visiting a friend, and was returning to the Scarborough with the intention of sailing 'for Bermuda that night. The accident occurretT in full view of many on board the Scarborough, which was anchored in the river. The seaplane encountered a hailstorm and plunged into the water not far from the ship.

A coastguard boat and a launch from the Scarborough immediately rushed to the rescue.

£5,000 ON HIS HEAD. Comdr. Agar, who is 42, married Mrs Ina Margaret Hirst, in Bermuda on February 23 last. He was formerly the husband of Baroness Furnival, who was married for the second time on the same day.

Comdr. Agar is known as the “Mystery V.C.,’ 1 because it was some time before the details of the deed which brought him the honour were disclosed.

The V.C. was awarded to him for conspicuous galantry in an action in the Baltic in 1919, when the Bolshevist cruiser Oleg was sunk. The attack on the Oleg was made by a coastal motor-boat, and the British crew, while running the gauntlet of destroyers, were picked out by searchlights and guns from the Kronstadt forts. The boat was holed on a breakwater and had to remain stationary while rough repairs were carried out. Next day Comdr. Agar got her away by compelling the crews of two Russian fishing vessels to hand over their sails. The Bolsheviks subsequently put a price of £5,000 on the head of Comdr. Agar.