MERCHANT MANY Courage Recognised

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVI, Issue 23013, 3 October 1944, Page 4

MERCHANT MANY Courage Recognised

Shaw Savill Line Recard The war record of the ships of the Shaw- Savill and Albion Line and the men who sail in them fills a proud page in the great story of the Mercnant Navy. As one of the shipping lines engaged in the New Zealand trade, Shaw Savill officers and men. New Zealanders among them, have not only carried on their normal business of carrying food supplies to Britain, but have shared in the successful performance of considerable affairs of many strange routes. It has become customary in recent years for Royal recognition of the service to the nation of the Merchant Navy to be made by conferring a knighthood on the senior master of one of the principal shipping lines. In the last New Year honours list Captain Henry Robert Gordon, D.S.C., commander of the Dominion Monarch and commodore of the Shaw Savill and Albion Line, was created a Knight Bachelor. This is the first time such an honour has come to that section of the Merchant Navy regularly trading to New Zealand. Sir Henry - Gordon was awarded the D.S.C. for the gallant part played by him when an important convoy was being fought through from Gibraltar to Malta in August, 1942, against continual attacks by enemy aircraft, submarines, and surface craft. His chief engineer, Mr. Alexander Chalmers, was also awarded the D.S.C. for bravery on this occasion. Captain Gwilym Williams, master of another Shaw Savill liner sunk in this convoy, the third officer. Mr Gerald V. Connolly, and the chief engineer, Mr Henry - R. Leffler, also received the D.S.C. The chief officer. Mr Harold Winyard, and the second officer, Mr Cyril W. Sendall. were mentioned in dispatches. Fortunately there was no loss of life in either of these ships. In the case of the ship commanded by Captain Williams, this was in a great measure due to the bravery and coolness in the midst of the inferno of Cadet Donald McCallum, who was awarded the British Empire Medal. A similar award went to Cadet Frederick William Treves. After his return to London a few - weeks later Captain Williams died in the offices of the Shaw Savill and Albion Company. He was one of the senior masters in the company’s services, and his tragically sudden death undoubtedly was directly due to his arduous war service. Torpedoed in Atlantic Another of the company’s large motor liners, homeward-bound from Wellington to London, was proceeding independently across the Atlantic when she was attacked without warning by a U-boat and hit by two torpedoes in quick succession. The sinking ship, in danger of capsizing, was abandoned by her company in good order, though two of her four lifeboats had been destroyed. Captain Cyril Maurice Andrews and his chief officer, Mr Eric Arnold Hickling, showed magnificent seamanship in taking the two remaining boats, both badly overloaded, through very bad weather until they were picked up by a Norwegian ship four days later. Mr George Otto Latter, the lamp-trimmer, and Mr Cyril Nichols, able seaman, also did an outstanding job and showed initiative after the ship had been torpedoed and in the boats. Their cheerful courage was an inspiration to all. Captain Andrews and Mr Hickling were awarded the 0.8. E., as well as Lloyd's Medal for bravery at sea. Latter and Nichols each received the British Empire Medal. The awards in the case of Mr Hickling were posthumous. as he lost his life when the ship in which he made his next voyage to sea was torpedoed and sunk with all hands save one. One of the earliest awards of this war was made to Captain Edward T. Grayson, -who received the 0.8. E. for saving his ship, then unarmed, from attack by a submarine which had already sunk another ship nearby. Other well-known masters of the Shaw Savill and Albion Line awarded the 0.8. E. for meritorious service during the war include the late Captain William G. Summers, formerly commodore of the line and commander of the Dominion Monarch, Captain William H. Hartman, and Cantata James Avern. Captain W. B. Starr, who was master of the Tairoa when the ship was sunk by the Admiral Graf Spee and was subsequently a prisoner in the Altmark, was officially commended for his actions on that occasion. Mr Alf. Cooper, a well-known chief engineer, received the 0.8. E. for long and meritorious service. For valuable services rendered on various occasions the following chief stewards, all well-known in New Zealand, have been mentioned in dispatches:—Mr J. A. Burtinshaw, Mr William Lee, and Mr E. J. Pugh. The gallant fight of H.M.S. Jervis Bay in defending a large convoy against the attack of the German pocket-battleship Admiral Scheer.was the occasion on which Lieutenant N. E. Wood. R.N.R.. gained the D.S.O. for courage and devotion to duty.