Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Family group:

A fine Great War Adriatic “V.C. action” D.S.M. group of four awarded to Engineman J. Dowie, Royal Naval Reserve, who was decorated for his part in defending the Otranto Barrage during the famous attack launched by Austrian cruisers and destroyers in May 1917 - he remained at his post in the drifter Coral Haven until she slipped beneath the waves a blazing wreck, a classic example of what the Austrians described as a ‘united mad resistance’
Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R. (T.S. 2113 J. Dowie, Engn., R.N.R., H.M. Dr. Coral Haven, Straits of Otranto, 15 May 1917); 1914-15 Star (T.S. 2113 J. Dowie, Tr., R.N.R.); British War and Victory Medals (2113 TS. J. Dowie, Engn., R.N.R.), one or two edge nicks and a little polished, otherwise generally very fine

The Great War campaign pair awarded to Private W. Dowie, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, who was killed in action in Salonika in August 1918
British War and Victory Medals (4654 Pte. W. Dowie, A. & S.H.), together with related Memorial Plaque (William Dowie), these good very fine (7) £1600-1800

D.S.M. London Gazette 29 August 1917.

The original recommendation states:

‘He remained at his post although the ship was under heavy fire from a very superior force, thereby enabling his Skipper to handle his ship and the small gun to be fired at the enemy.’

James Dowie was born in Granton, Midlothian, in July 1867, and enrolled in the Royal Naval Reserve as an Engineman in February 1915. Having then served briefly in the hired trawler Pride of Fife, he removed to the Coral Haven in November of the same year, in which capacity he was awarded the D.S.M. for the above cited deeds during the famous attack launched by Austrian cruisers and destroyers on the Otranto Barrage on the night of 15 May 1917. The barrage had been established in 1916, in order to hinder the passage of enemy submarines, and by way of numerous net drifters and motor launches, stretched across the opening of the Adriatic, between Otranto on the ‘toe’ of Italy and Corfu.

There were 47 drifters in the barrage that night, in eight lettered divisions averaging six drifters each - Coral Haven was part of ‘O’ Division, which component of the barrage was subjected to a point-blank attack from an enemy cruiser which resulted in her loss, and her consorts Taits and Girl Rose, and severe damage being inflicted on the Union and Floandi. Stephen Snelling’s The Naval V.Cs takes up the story:

‘The attack on the barrage began between 3.25 a.m. and 3.30 a.m. At the time, 47 drifters were stretched across the straits in seven groups. Identified by their code letters, the groups from west to east were N, B, C, T, E, O and S. Some of the driftermen had actually seen the cruisers pass through the line a half-hour or so earlier. But they assumed they were friendly vessels, so none of them had reported the sighting. It was only when the cruisers began their systematic destruction shortly before first light that they realised their costly mistake ...

Having inspected the barrage without interference, the cruisers set about their task methodically: one working in from the west, a second from the east and the third dealing with the centre. In each case, the pattern was much the same, with the enemy approaching to within a hundred yards of their victims, then stopping and ordering the crews to abandon ship before they sank the vessels with gunfire. Given the huge disparity in weaponry - nine 3.9-inch guns and four of smaller calibre vs. the drifters' 6-pounders - little resistance was expected. And, not surprisingly, some crews were quick to accede to the enemy's demands. But not all were of the same inclination.  A remarkable number chose to accept the ridiculously long odds with displays of belligerence that bore comparison with Sir Richard Grenville's immortal fight ...

The whole raid was over in little more than an hour, during which 14 of the 47 drifters were sunk and several more damaged. Hardest hit were the drifters at either end of the straits. S Division, furthest away on the eastern extremity, lost four boats out of six, with most of their crews taken prisoner. The neighbouring O Division lost two and had two more disabled. As the cruisers withdrew, a running battle ensued between the Austrian raiders and units of the British and Italian fleets which steamed out of Brindisi. In an inconclusive exchange the Novara was struck on the bridge and in the engine room and had to be towed back to port. She left behind a scene of carnage with shell-scarred drifters picking their way through a sea strewn with debris in search of survivors.

In spite of her own terrible damage, Gowan Lea joined the rescue effort. Among those vessels she helped was the drifter Floandi. She had suffered even more grievously than Watt's boat. Of a crew of 10, 4 were killed and 3 injured, including her thrice wounded skipper. Placing Gowan Lea alongside, Watt and his men helped remove Floandi's dead and wounded before making for port ... ’

Between them that night the driftermen won a V.C. - Skipper Joseph Watt of the Gowan Lea - five D.S.Cs, a Bar to the D.S.C., five C.G.Ms, 18 D.S.Ms and a Bar to the D.S.M., the gallant Dowie among the latter. He was demobilised in March 1919.

William Dowie was born in Alloa, son of the above, and enlisted in the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders at Stirling in July 1915. Initially posted to the 3/7th Battalion, he first went out to France in July 1916, being wounded in the right leg on 15 August and in the left hand on 13 April 1917, both occasions necessitating his evacuation to the U.K. Then in November 1917, he was embarked for active service in the 12th Battalion in Salonika, in which capacity he was killed in action on 19 September 1918. He is buried in Doiran Military Cemetery, Greece; sold with copied service record.