Auction Catalogue

15 December 2011

Starting at 10:00 AM

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Orders, Decorations and Medals

Washington Mayfair Hotel  London  W1J 5HE

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Lot

№ 1069

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15 December 2011

Hammer Price:
£600

A Great War D.S.M. awarded to Cook A. Standen, Mercantile Marine

Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R. (Cook A. Standen, Irish Sea 2 Jan. 1918) good very fine £600-700

D.S.M. London Gazette 6 April 1918. ‘... to the under-mentioned men of the Mercantile Marine, in recognition of their services in carrying on the trade of the country during the war.’

Albert Standen was serving as Cook aboard the steamship
Edna, of 842 tons, when she was attacked by a German submarine in the Irish Channel. The submarine fired a torpedo which missed and then surfacing, she engaged in a gun duel with the Edna. The ship was able to escape and the official report stated that this was due ‘to the able handling by the Master & the manner in which the Gun was worked.’ It is believed that Standen was one of the Gunners. The master, Captain J. R. Godfrey, was awarded the Lloyd’s Meritorious Service Medal for the action. Interestingly, not all the crew rallied around to beat off the attack, as amongst the answers given in the questionnaire on the submarine attack, is the entry, ‘(a) 14 Crew British (b) 2 D.H. & 2 Stokers - Cowards refused to assist Guns Crew.’

Further research suggests that Standen was possibly the Albert Henry Standen, who as Master of the S.S.
Monmouth Coast, was killed on 24 April 1945, aged 53 years, when his ship was torpedoed and sunk off the coast of Donegal on 24 April 1945. Of the 17 man crew only one man survived. With a quantity of copied research.