Auction Catalogue

19 & 20 March 2008

Starting at 10:00 AM

.

Orders, Decorations and Medals

Washington Mayfair Hotel  London  W1J 5HE

Lot

№ 1461

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20 March 2008

Hammer Price:
£620

A Great War D.S.M. group of three awarded to Chief Petty Officer L. J. Hofgartner, Royal Navy

Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R. (178122 P.O. Atlantic Ocean 30th July 1917), attempted erasure of name; Victory Medal 1914-19 (178122 Act. C.P.O., R.N.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 1st issue (178122 P.O., H.M.S. Hindustan); together with an unnamed British War Medal 1914-20, nearly very fine and better (4) £600-800

D.S.M. London Gazette 2 November 1917. ‘... for actions against enemy submarines’.

Lorenz John Höfgartner was born in London on 13 October 1878. He entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class on 31 January 1894, being advanced to a Boy 1st Class in January 1895. Promoted to Ordinary Seaman whilst on the Royal Oak in October 1896; Able Seaman when on the Prince George in December 1897, and Leading Seaman on the Duke of Wellington in January 1903, he became a Petty Officer 2nd Class on Boscawen II in October 1904 and Petty Officer 1st Class on the Hindustan in July 1910.

With the onset of war he was based at Attentive II (Dover), serving aboard the destroyer Flirt until December 1914. Based at Cormorant (Gibraltar) from March 1915, he served aboard the torpedo boat No.90, April 1915-May 1918. He was awarded the D.S.M. for his services aboard T.B.No.90 on 30 July 1917. The torpedo boat was on patrol west of Cape Spartal when she observed that the S.S. Ganges had been hit by a torpedo. Proceeding to her assistance she sighted a submarine. The submarine dived and the T.B. passed over her dropping a depth charge. Two further passes were made and a mass of bubbles and oil were seen on the surface. As bubbles were still coming up from the spot the following evening, it was deemed probable that the submarine had been sunk.

Höfgartner attained the rank of Chief Petty Officer in September 1918 whilst on the Nimrod. Sold with copied service papers, Admiralty report of the sinking and a postcard featuring a torpedo boat.