Five: Lieutenant-Commander E. M. Gibbings, Royal Navy

1914-15 Star (Lieut. E. M. Gibbings. R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (Lt. Commr. E. M. Gibbings. R.N.); Defence and War Medals 1939-45, mounted as worn, very fine (5) £100-£140

Edward Maurice Gibbings was born in Cork on 8 July 1887, and joined Britannia on 15 September 1902, aged 15 years 3 months; Midshipman, 29 February 1904; Acting Sub Lieutenant, 30 April 1907; Lieutenant, 31 December 1909; Lieutenant-Commander, 31 December 1917. Much of his early career was spent on the China station in Cressy, Hogue, and Britomart. In August 1910 he joined the surveying ship Hearty working in the North Sea and this seems to have encouraged him to specialise as a Hydrographic Surveyor, being made an Assistant Surveyor 4th Class on 6 August 1911, advancing to 3rd Class on 1 October 1912, to 2nd Class on 1 January 1915, and to 1st Class on 18 May 1919. He served in Fantôme from September 1911 to May 1913, returning to Hearty until the outbreak of war when he seems to have been appointed as Navigating Officer in the destroyer Recruit, leaving her in January 1915, transferring to the depot ship Woolwich still in a navigating role. He returned to surveying in Hearty once more in September 1915, transferring to command Esther survey vessel in May 1916 and remaining in her until 24 March 1917. During this period in command he worked in the Thames Estuary and Medway, mainly on war operations involving minelaying. In March 1917, he was sent to Endeavour working in the Mediterranean but he left her in November 1919 under a cloud, having been charged with drunkenness. Although he was acquitted (not proved) this was the start of his rapid fall from grace through his relationship with alcohol and he was placed on the Retired List on 11 September 1923, at the age of only 36. In July 1939 he seems to have been given a second chance with an appointment to Osprey for anti-submarine training and was then appointed to Dunluce Castle in November 1939. However, in mid-February 1940 the Captain reported that Gibbings had been drunk on board, and on 18 February 1940, he left her and reverted thereafter to the Retired List. Later during the war he is shown as a Lieutenant in the Home Guard, serving in the Aldershot District of South-Eastern Command in the 12th Surrey (3rd Southern Railway) Battalion. Sold with copied record of service and other research.