A Great War D.S.C. group of four awarded to Captain G. T. Cockman, Mercantile Marine, late Royal Naval Reserve, who was decorated for a gallant action against an enemy submarine in the Mediterranean in December 1915

Distinguished Service Cross, G.V.R., hallmarks for London 1916; British War and Mercantile Marine War Medals 1914-18 (George W. Cockman); Royal Naval Reserve Officer’s Decoration, E.VII.R., hallmarks for London 1909, the campaign awards with polished obverses, good fine, the others very fine and better (4) £1200-1500

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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D.S.C. London Gazette 22 December 1916:

‘In recognition of zeal and devotion to duty shown in carrying on the trade of the country during the War.’

George Wallace Cockman, who was born in London in 1859, qualified for his Master’s Certificate in 1889, and was a long served officer of the P. & O. Line, in whose ships he served with distinction in the Great War.

Appointed a Sub. Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve in December 1889, he was awarded the R.N.R. Officer’s Decoration in November 1909, and had been advanced to Commander by the time of being paced on the Retired List in late 1914.

Remaining in the employ of P. & O., however, he went on to win the D.S.C. in respect of his command of the S.S. Benalla in an action against an enemy submarine on 3 December 1915. On that date she was proceeding from Alexandria to Malta with troops aboard, when she received a distress signal from the S.S. Torilla to say she was being engaged by the submarine - in fact the U-39. Proceeding to her assistance at full speed, Cockburn brought the Benalla’s 4.7-inch gun into action at about 8,000 yards range, and after two or three accurate rounds the enemy commander was persuaded ‘to turn tail and proceed Westward’.

Having then served as captain of the S.S. Berrima from March until October 1916, he removed in the following month to the S.S. Ballarat, which ship was torpedoed and sunk off Land’s End on 25 April 1917, luckily without loss of life. Of this incident the official history of the Merchant Navy states:

‘It was 2 a.m. when the torpedo struck her, causing a terrific explosion, which carried away one of her propellers and bent the shaft of the other, destroyed the main steam pipe of the engines, and put out of action the 6-inch gun and wireless apparatus. The signal for troops and crew to go to their boat stations was sounded immediately, and within a few minutes more than 20 boats had left the ship, and were picked up by destroyers which came to the rescue. An attempt was made to tow the Ballarat to safety, but she sank at 4.30 p.m., seven and a half miles from the Lizard. The splendid discipline of both crew troops and crew made it possible to land the ship’s entire complement, 1,752 souls, without any casualties. The Master, Mr. G. W. Cockman, and some of the officers, left the ship only a few minutes before she sank.’

Undaunted, the gallant Cockman returned to sea that October in the S.S. Kashgar, and was similarly employed at the War’s end. He finally came ashore in mid-1921 and died in January 1937; sold with a file of research.