A fine S.G.M. and Lloyd’s Medal for Saving Life at Sea group of eight awarded to Captain E. J. R. Pollitt, Royal Naval Reserve and Merchant Navy

Sea Gallantry Medal, G.V.R., silver (Ernest J. R. Pollitt, S.S. “Usworth”, 14th December 1934); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star, clasp, France and Germany; Africa Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Royal Naval Reserve Officer’s Decoration, G.VI.R., the reverse officially dated ‘1941’; Lloyd’s Medal for Saving Life at Sea (Lieut. Ernest James Rigby Pollitt, R.N.R., S.S. “Usworth”, 14th December 1934), in its fitted case of issue, good very fine and better (8) £1000-1200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Awards to Merchant Seamen and D.E.M.S. Gunners.

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Ernest James Rigby Pollitt, who was born in Liverpool in August 1901, joined the Cunard Steamship Company as an Apprentice in August 1918, with an appointment aboard the S.S. Caronia. Remaining in the company’s employ over the coming decade, he qualified for his Certificate of Competency as Master of a Foreign-Going Ship in March 1928, in addition to being commissioned as a Sub. Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve in July 1931. And a little over three years later his seagoing skills were put to the severest test.

The Dalgliesh Steamship Company’s steamship Usworth, Captain J. J. Reed, left Sydney, Nova Scotia, for Queenstown on 6 December 1934, with a cargo of wheat. Encountering rough weather from the onset, she suffered damage to her steering on the 10th. Seeking urgent assistance, the Belgian steamship Jean Jadot and the Cunard liner Ascania came to her aid. The citation for the Board of Trade Sea Gallantry Medals well describes the efforts of those involved:

‘The S.S. Usworth was severely damaged in a hurricane in the North Atlantic in December 1934. The vessel had battled with the gale for three days and efforts to effect temporary repairs were unavailing. The steering gear became damaged and it was not found possible to steer the ship. An S.O.S. was sent out at 6 a.m. on the 11 December which was answered by the S.S. Jean Jadot who steamed to her assistance. The Jean Jadot made attempts at salvage which continued until the afternoon of the 13th. The Usworth was then shipping very heavy seas which stove in the hatches and threw the vessel on her beam ends. At 7 a.m. on the 14 December the S.S. Ascania arrived on the scene and poured oil on the sea while the Jean Jadot manoeuvred into position to fire a line across the Usworth. Three rockets were fired, each of which fell short. The Ascania then steamed round to the weather side of the Usworth and fired two rockets each of which fell short. The position of the Usworth was getting desperate and the master asked whether a boat could be sent to take off her crew. A boat was sent away from the Jean Jadot which manoeuvred to the leeside of the Usworth and 15 men were taken off. The boat had shipped a lot of water and was capsized by a cross wave. The men thrown in the water became covered with oil and were quickly exhausted. It was possible however to get some of the men on board the Jean Jadot but unfortunately two of the crew of the Jean Jadot and 13 of the crew of the Usworth lost their lives. As there were still some of the crew left on the Usworth, the Master of the Ascania decided to launch a lifeboat’ (T.N.A. BT. 261. 7, Rotation No. 41, Reg. No. M9380.35 refers).

The Times of 8 February 1935 takes up the story at this point:

‘Captain Bissett of the Ascania then decided that a further effort must be made, and about an hour afterwards a boat left the Ascania. Captain Bissett had placed it on record that when he decided to send a boat every officer and seaman volunteered to go in it. The Ascania’s boat had much difficulty in getting clear of the ship's side and was in great danger of being crushed by the ship's forefoot, which was lifting clear of the water as she pitched. Pulling was extremely difficult as the violent motion of the boat kept unshipping the oars from the rowlocks, and the wind blew them out of the mens’ hands. Bringing the boat nearer was extremely dangerous owing to the overhanging wreckage which was plunging into the sea as she lurched, but after three of the crew of the Usworth jumped towards the Ascania’s boat, which was then about 15 feet off, and failed to reach her. Third Officer, Lieutenant Pollitt, R.N.R., who was in charge of the boat, decided that he must go alongside, and the remaining nine men of the Usworth went into the boat. By this time all but six oars were broken, but by great good fortune, the boat floated clear of the wreck. In spite of all their efforts, however, it was impossible to keep the boat's head to the sea, and as she lay broadside on to the waves she would have certainly been capsized had it not been for the oil which was pumped overboard by the Jean Jadot and the Ascania.

Getting back on board the Ascania was also a difficult operation, as the boat was rising and falling 16 feet to 20 feet: some of the crew were hoisted up in bowlines and others jumped for the ladders; one man fell overboard between the boat and the ship, and four men had a desperate struggle to get him on board again, all being in imminent peril of being crushed. Lieutenant Pollitt, true to the tradition of the service, was the last to leave the boat, which had been away from the Ascania for two hours.’

For the rescue, the British Board of Trade awarded 12 S.G.M. in silver to men of the Ascania and 11 S.G.M. (Foreign Services) in silver to men of the Jean Jadot. In addition, Captain Bisset of the Ascania was awarded a silver rose bowl to the value of £30; Pollitt and 2nd Officer Leblanc, commanding the boat’s crews of the Ascania and Jean Jadot, were awarded silver cups to the value of £15; 4th Officer Lambert of the Jean Jadot was awarded a silver salver to the value of £12 and members of both boat’s crews were awarded £5 each. In addition to Medals for Saving Life, Lloyd’s of London presented a commemorative plaque to the Ascania, and Cook T. Gibson of the Usworth was awarded a posthumous Albert Medal for sacrificing his life in attempting to save the life of L. Jones, the mess-room boy.

Pollitt’s gallantry on this occasion also resulted in him being awarded the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society’s Marine Medal, in silver, the Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners Royal Benevolent Society’s Medal, in silver, and the Life Saving Benevolent Association of New York’s Medal, in gold.

Advanced to Commander in the Royal Naval Reserve in August 1938, Pollitt went on to witness active service in the 1939-45 War, a career best summarised by his retirement notice in Sea Breezes:

‘During the Second World War he served in H.M.S. Carinthia, an armed merchant cruiser, on the Northern Patrol, until she was torpedoed. He was then appointed to the command of H.M.S. Corinthian, on the Western Patrol, and later on escort duties from September 1940 to 1943. Subsequently he was commander of the escort carrier Premier.

At the request of the Cunard-White Star Company he was released from naval service in July 1944 to take command of the Scythia, and in the following October he was appointed Assistant Marine Superintendent. Captain Pollitt was promoted to the rank of Captain in the Royal Naval Reserve on the Active List on 1 January 1949, and he is a Younger Brother of Trinity House.’