Civilian Trawlers and medals

[DavidOwen]

Were those who fished on trawlers during ww1 entitled to any medals as the merchant seamen were?

 

Asking because a friend's relative Sidney Wilfred Bates was a Trimmer aboard Grimsby Steam Trawler CHESHIRE was killed when it hit a mine 7th July 1915 but I can't find a record of a medal card for him on the National Archives site. He is remembered on the Tower Hill Memorial

 

Interestingly the sinking made the New York Times!

 

 

NY Times re sinking of Cheshire.pdf

[ARABIS]

Fishermen were entitled to the British War Medal and the Mercantile Marine War Medal if they entered a Danger Zone, but they had to apply to the Board of Trade for their medals. Your friend's relative was killed so unless any next of kin or legatees applied for them they would not have been awarded.

[DavidOwen]

7 minutes ago, ARABIS said:

Fishermen were entitled to the British War Medal and the Mercantile Marine War Medal if they entered a Danger Zone, but they had to apply to the Board of Trade for their medals. Your friend's relative was killed so unless any next of kin or legatees applied for them they would not have been awarded.

Thanks for that, as no medal card exists I suspect they were never claimed and the MOD won't issue them now unless they were awarded, returned and a medal card exists to prove that. (Catch=22)

 

Good to know though; thank you!

[MKC]

That's interesting, Arabis. There must have been a significant number of fishermen eligible for the two medals you mention, as in August 1914 alone, LLoyd's list 27 British fishing trawlers sunk by enemy action, mostly by enemy surface craft, the rest by mines, and mostly in the North Sea. That's a lot of crewmen in the 'danger zone'.

 

Mike 

[horatio2]

Forename SYDNEY on CWGC.

[DavidOwen]

5 minutes ago, horatio2 said:

Forename SYDNEY on CWGC.

Alternative spellings in various documents census etc. as was the case back then.

[Terence Munson]

Sinking of the "Cheshire" GY 742.

The Grimsby Telegraph. Thursday 8th July 1915:
                                                      ______
                               GRIMSBY TRAWLER BLOWN UP.
                          ONE SURVIVOR FROM CREW OF NINE.
                           ENGINEER'S TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE.
     

The Grimsby trawler Cheshire has been blown up by a mine in the

North Sea, and only one of her crew of nine hands is known to have

been saved. He is Walter Dorkin, chief engineer, of 28, Blundell Avenue,

who was picked up after being in the water for about an hour by the

trawler Devonshire, which had been attracted to the scene by the loud

explosion.
     

  According to Dorkin he was on duty in the engine-room at 5.00 o'clock

on Wednesday afternoon, when the side of the ship was almost blown

out by a terrific explosion, caused, he believed, by the vessel striking a

mine. Part of the engine-room was wrecked, and he rushed up on deck.

He got clear of the engine-room as the vessel, almost in pieces, sank

under him and he was left in the water. Being able to swim he struck

out and clung to some wreckage, but he never saw any signs of any

his shipmates, who he believes must have been killed outright or

drowned by being drawn under with the sinking ship.

   While swimming about his head came in contact with another mine,

giving him a terrible shock, but by diving below it he managed to get

clear of the danger. He was nearly exhausted when he saw another

trawler steam up among the wreckage and pick him up. The trawler

was the Devonshire, the skipper of which stated that he heard the

explosion, and fearing that some ship had been lost he determined

to try and save any of the crew that could be found.

    Though a rigorous search was made of the locality, none of the

other members of the crew could be found, and owing to the danger

of other mines the vessel had to leave the vicinity.


    A peculiar feature of the loss of this ship is that when she was

leaving port one of the crew, a deck hand, jumped ashore and refused

to go to sea. His place was taken by E. Kelly, who is one of the missing;

thus by his refusal to go on the ship one fisherman owes his life.


 

Terry -

(I have details of all of her crew if you haven't got them already)

[DavidOwen]

Thanks Terry, yes we have all the details, the only thing we are missing is a photo of the trawler. 

[DavidOwen]

Just had a trawl (pardon the pun) through the medal cards looking for any of the crew whose relatives may have claimed the medals to which they were entitled. Only one possibility comes up a J (John J) Mitchell (the Mate) although I am not sure if this is the same man. http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8069917

 

It is such a pity that more relatives were not encouraged to apply for the medals their loved ones would have been entitled to at the time.