GALLANTRY RECOGNISED.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16496, 25 July 1919, Page 7

GALLANTRY RECOGNISED.

OTAKI’S FIGHT WITH MOEWE. The following is a copy of a letter received from the Head (Mice of the Now Zealand Shipping Company at Christchurch concerning the steamer Otaki’s light with the German raider Moewe: — ‘‘Wo have received advice that a posthumous award of the Victoria Cross has been made to Captain Archibald B. Smith for most conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty when in command of the s.s. Otaki oil March 10, 1917. Chief Officer M'Neish has' also boon awarded the D. 5.0., and the two gunners, Worth and Jackson, tho D.S.M. “In this connection the directors have been very impressed by tho rcP.prts from survivors of the gallant action of tho gunner, Leading Seaman Worth, and they have made him a presentation of a tankard, on which appears the following inscription V ‘Presented by the New Zealand Shipping Company to Loading Seaman Alfred Worth, with a cheque for one hundred guineas, ns a mark of appreciation of his gallant fight as gunner of their s.s. Otaki, in her engagement with tho Gorman raider Moewe in the North Atlantic, March 10, 1917.’ “The secretary of the Admiralty wrote to us as follows :~ “ ‘The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty consider this a very gallant action, and if the Otaki had had a little more luck she would have sunk the raider against overwhelming odds.’ ” The following is a comparison of the armament of the two vessels S.S. OTAKI. Defensive armament, one 4.7 gun. A. E, Worth was loading seaman of the Otaki; E. Jackson, gunner’s mate; W. E. Martin, apprentice (killed); and B. H. Kilner, apprentice (killed). MOEWE. Two 7.5 guns. Two fiin. guns. Six Sin. guns. Four torpedo tubes.