AWATEA AWARDS

Greymouth Evening Star, 3 April 1943, Page 6

AWATEA AWARDS

D.S.O. TO CAPTAIN

WELLINGTON, April 2. Awards to the commander, officers and members of the crew of the liner Awatea were promulgated m the London Gazette of March 13, accordin?' to advice received from London by the head office of the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand. The awards are:—

Distinguished Service Order. Captain G. B. Morgan. (Captain Morgan has already been awarded the D.S.C.).

Distinguished Service Cross

Mr. W. A. McGarry, chief officer. Mr. H. Simmonds, chief engineer. Mr. W. S. Muir, senior third officer

Distinguished Service Medal

Mr. G. H. Gee, greaser. Mr. A. Ingram, oil burner

Mentioned in Dispatches

Messrs J. C. Willis, second engineer; B. M. Hurley, purser; S. Emerson, A B.; G. H. Cooper, steward; W. Allan, chef; D. J. Green and P. J. F. Harris, first grade stewards, and J. W. Griffiths. Captain Morgan, who won the Distinguished Service Cross while serving with the Royal Naval Reserve in Q-ships in the last war, was born at Lyttelton, and is the son. of Captain R. E. Morgan, who was himself a master in the Mercantile Marine. Captain Morgan went to sea in sail, and at the time of the South Air lean War was an ordinary seaman. He went into steam when he joined the Union Company’s service in 1909, with the master’s ticket. He has remained with the Union Company ever since, except during his service in the last war, and has been in almost every ship of the company’s fleet. Before taking up his last command he was master of the Limerick. Other ships he had commanded in recent years were the Maori, Matua, Aorangi, Maunganui, and Monowai. His first command was the Poherua, in 1920. Q-ships in which Captain Morgan served in the last war sank three submarines, and it was in them that he had an experience of being in a sinking ship. That was the Q 6. The other Q-ship in which he served during his two years in this branch of the service was the Hyderabad. Chief Officer W. A. McGarry, whose home is at Wellington, was born at Heathcote in 1901, his father being a railway employee in the Christchurch district. He joined the company as third officer in 1922. He has been chief officer in most of the company’s ships in the last eight years and more recently in the large passenger liners. Chief Engineer H. Simmonds, whose home is in the South Island, was born in New Zealand in 1897. He joined the company as fifth engineer of the Monowai in 1920. He later became second engineer on the Awatea and chief engineer in September, 1941.

Third Officer Muir, who was born in South Africa in 1913, joined the company towards the end of 1928 as third officer of the Ngakuta. He was appointed third senior officer of the Awatea in February, 1941. His home is in Auckland.