A Great War auxiliary patrol D.S.C. and impressive S.G.M. group of five awarded to Lieutenant E. V. Hugo, Royal Naval Reserve, who was severely injured in his gallant attempt to rescue passengers and crew from the stricken S.S. Veronese off Portugal in January 1913: his courageous deeds on that occasion were discussed in the House of Commons when an M.P. questioned whether the President of the Board of Trade was taking sufficient steps to recognise his bravery - noting in the same speech that Hugo, owing to his injuries, had been unable to sit upright at the Board of Inquiry some two months after the incident

Distinguished Service Cross, G.V.R., hallmarks for London 1916, with its Garrard & Co. case of issue; 1914-15 Star (Lieut. E. V. Hugo, R.N.R.); British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. E. V. Hugo, R.N.R.); Sea Gallantry Medal, G.V.R., bronze (Ernest Victor Hugo, “Veronese”, 16th January 1913), mounted as worn on frayed ribands, good very fine (5) £2800-3200

D.S.C. London Gazette 27 June 1917:

‘In recognition of services in vessels of the Auxiliary Patrol between 1 February and 31 December 1916.’

Ernest Victor Hugo was born in Liverpool in June 1873 and was serving as a Mercantile Apprentice by 1891. Having then obtained his Mate’s certificate, he was employed by the Liverpool, Brazil & River Plate Steam Navigation Company.

Stranding of the “Veronese” - S.G.M.

By January 1913, he was serving as Chief Officer of the steamship Veronese, bound for Buenos Airies: in the early morning hours of the 16th, four days after departing Liverpool, the ship stranded on the Boa Nova rocks, off Leixoes, Portugal. Details of the dramatic nature of the stranding, and of Hugo’s personal bravery, are to be found in the resultant Board of Trade report, from which the following extracts taken:

The vessel runs aground:

‘A few minutes after grounding, on a spot which eventually proved to be 350 yards from the shore, near Boa Nova, from 2 to 4 miles to the northward of Port Leixoes, the fires in the main boilers were extinguished, and the engine room and stokehold were abandoned on account of the water in the ship. The Second Engineer, who was on watch, saw that no one had been left below. The heavy seas breaking with great violence over the fore part of the vessel, stove in the hatches forward and immense volumes of water poured below, flooding the emigrants' quarters, the vessel resting on the rocks with a strong list to starboard, and heading S. 46° E. (magnetic) towards the shore. Very shortly, with loss of steam, the electric lighting gave out, the ship being plunged into darkness, with the exception of the alleyways, in which an oil lamp on either side had been burning. Rockets were sent up and signals of distress were made and wireless calls for assistance sent out and continued by the operator, Lawrence Smith, until the emergency batteries gave out after four hours, though estimated to run for 12 hours. These calls were eventually effectual in bringing to the vicinity the German steamer Hollandia and the Ellerman Line steamer Vauban, both of which stood by for some considerable time, but seeing that no assistance could be rendered from seaward, they proceeded on their voyages. After the wireless had given out, Smith, the operator, who had been working incessantly at his instruments, gave much assistance in morsing to the workers ashore. Meanwhile, on striking, the Master had ordered the Mate to call all hands and passengers, and to get the port midship lifeboats swung out and lowered to the rail, and several first-class passengers and others were put or got into them, but as it was considered most dangerous, and practically useless, to attempt to lower them, they were kept fast, some of the passengers remaining in them, whilst others took shelter as best they could on the port side of the vessel ... ’

A faulty life line ashore:

‘The vessel had on board a Lyle gun for throwing lines, but these latter had been washed away, and the ammunition or cartridges kept in a, copper magazine in the wheel house were damaged by water, the wheel house being gutted by heavy seas, but fortunately, not before the rockets and distress signals had been removed from it. Lifejackets had either been served out or instructions had been given where they were to be found, but as lifesaving was at first carried out by the shore line and breeches buoy it was impracticable for them to be worn in transit to the shore. During the first night of 16 January, about 22 people in all were drawn on shore, this work continuing until the line parted. The line had been made fast to the funnel of the ship, the shore end resting on a low tripod above the beach. This line, not being taut through fear of its parting, caused the breeches buoy, during its passage, to dip and be dragged through the surf, and through this, several lives were lost, but how many it was impossible to say, as from the evidence of witnesses on board, signals from the shore to the effect that the occupants had respectively arrived in safety were in every instance made, though owing to the wind and spray it is possible that the messages may have been, in some cases, misunderstood ... ’

Gallant work by Hugo:

‘The dead bodies of one man, three women, and a girl were seen by the Chief Officer [Hugo] on the emigrant deck. These unfortunate people had met their death by drowning (the emigrant deck being flooded) or by wounds from wreckage. One emigrant woman from the structure on the port side forward covering the ladder way to the emigrants' deck, and containing the lavatories to which most of them had gone for shelter, was being assisted, much against her will, to a place of safety amidships by the Chief Officer. She hesitated, and losing her opportunity, was, together with the Chief Officer, struck by a heavy sea, torn from the latter's grasp, and washed overboard.

It was not until Friday, 17 January, at 11 a.m., that the last of the terror-stricken emigrants were rescued from their exposed and dangerous position, and installed in comparative safety amidships, and this was due to the gallant conduct and untiring efforts of Mr. E. V. Hugo, the Chief Officer, ably assisted by Fred Martin, Boatswain, William Jay, A.B., and others of the crew.

This work on the part of the rescuers entailed great danger to life and limbs, the fore part of the vessel with its list to the exposed side, being constantly swept by heavy seas, and Mr. Hugo was so severely injured during his courageous efforts that he was unable to sit upright whilst giving evidence some ten weeks after the event. The work was made more difficult by the fear and reluctance of the emigrants to cross the exposed part of the deck between the companion ladder forward and the sheltered spots amidships. One woman was found on the emigrant deck pinned down by a mass of wreckage, and was rescued from her perilous position by the Chief Officer ... ’

Hugo’s gallant efforts aside, six of the crew and 21 passengers lost their lives. He was awarded the S.G.M. in bronze, so, too four fellow crew members, but only after the matter had been raised in the House of Commons (Hansard, 12 June 1913, refers).

In December 1914, Hugo was commissioned as a Temporary Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve and, by 1916, he was serving under Captain H. E. Purey-Cust, C.B., R.N.R., in the Auxiliary Patrol depot ship H.M.S. Zaria. And it was in this capacity, as Base Officer at Longhope in the Orkneys, where the Zaria was stationed in 1917, that he was awarded the D.S.C.

Hugo died at Birkenhead in November 1928, aged 57 years; sold with copied research.