Orders, Decorations and Medals

Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 2nd issue, fixed suspension (198149 J. C. Evans, A.B., H.M.S. Vivid) extremely fine
£60-80

John Charles Evans was born into a Welsh speaking household at Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire, on 1 August 1882. A Tin Manufacturer by occupation, he enlisted into the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class on 5 February 1898. Advanced to Boy 1st Class when on the Minotaur in November 1898, he was promoted to Ordinary Seaman in August 1900 when on Thunderer and Able Seaman when on Hermione in February 1903. Evans was discharged to shore in August 1912 and joined the R.F.R. at Devonport in August 1912.

Evans was recalled for duty on 3 August 1912 and was posted to the old battleship Canopus. It was not to be an uneventful posting.

With Vice-Admiral Von Spee’s Far Eastern Squadron on loose in the Pacific, the venerable Canopus was detailed to support the outgunned South Atlantic Squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock. Concerned by the Canopus’s lack of speed Cradock chose to leave the venerable battleship behind as he searched for Von Spee’s squadron off the coast of Chile. The two squadrons found each other, off Coronel, on 1 November 1914. In the battle, the armoured cruisers Good Hope and Monmouth were sunk with all hands, the light cruiser Glasgow and the armed merchant cruiser Otranto managed to escape. Learning of the disaster, the Canopus beat a hasty as possible retreat before it suffered a similar fate. Reasoning that the German squadron would next target the Falkland Islands, with its valuable coal supplies, the Canopus was taken into Port Stanley harbour and beached to provide an unsinkable harbour defence. In response to the defeat at Coronel, a squadron commanded by Vice-Admiral Doveton Sturdee had been quickly despatched to the Falklands, centred upon the battlecruisers Invincible and Inflexible.

On 8 December 1914, unaware of the preparations, Von Spee’s squadron approached Port Stanley. Equally unaware of the German squadron’s approach, the British squadron was unprepared for action being in the process of coaling. The stationary British squadron would have made an easy target; fortunately the Germans were surprised by gunfire from the Canopus. That and the sight of battlecruiser masts sent the German squadron scuttling away. This respite allowed the British squadron to raise steam and eventually run down Von Spee’s squadron and destroy all but one of the cruisers.

Evans remained on the Canopus until May 1916 after which he was posted to Vivid. He remained there until his demobilisation in June 1921. Awarded the L.S. & G.C. Medal in 1923. With copied service paper and other research.