Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Mercantile Marine War Medal 1914-18 (Ernest E. Bonner) extremely fine £70-90

Ernest Edward Bonner was Master of the 1,527 ton cargo ship S.S. Djerv. which was sunk off Anglesey on 20 February 1918 by the German submarine U-86, commanded by Oberleutnant zur See Helmut Patzig. The ship was en route from Heysham, Lancashire to Newport, Monmouthshire when she was torpedoed and sunk 12 miles N.N.E. off the Skerries, Anglesey. Captain Bonner was killed in the attack together with one other crew member - the rest of the crew survived. Bonner, aged 38 years, was the son of Emma and the late Henry Bonner of 122 Etherington Road, Beverley High Road, Hull. His name is commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial.

The remaining crew of the Djerv were unaware of how lucky they were to survive, as only a few months later, on 27 June 1918, one of the worst atrocities of the war at sea occurred. The U-86, still under the command of Patzig, against international law and the standing orders of the Imperial German Navy, sank the hospital ship Llandovery Castle. Then, not satisfied with sinking a clearly marked hospital ship, he ordered his U-boat to ram the lifeboats and shoot at the survivors. Of the Llandovery Castle’s 258 crew members (of whom 94 were medical officers and nurses of the Canadian Medical Service) only 24 survived.

After the war, Patzig and his watch officers were indicted for this war crime. Patzig, who could not be found, was tried in his absence; his officers were tried by a court in Leipzig, found guilty and sentenced to four years imprisonment - however they ‘escaped’ on their way to a labour camp. Patzig reappeared during the Second World War, in command of a former Dutch submarine but took part in no war patrols and served in a staff position until his retirement in May 1945.

With copy Birth Certificate; copied naval certificates, service papers and some research re. Patzig.