Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Able Seaman E. W. Jefferies, Royal Navy, killed in action, 26 September 1918, as a passenger on the U.S.S. Tampa

1914-15 Star (J.38484 Ord., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (J.38484 A.B., R.N.) nearly extremely fine (3) £300-350

Ernest William Jefferies was born in Malmsbury, Wiltshire on 10 November 1894. A Gardener by occupation, he enlisted into the Royal Navy as an Ordinary Seaman at Vivid I, on 26 April 1915. He served on the cruiser Pelorus, June-December 1915; at Cormorant, January 1916-January 1918; and at Cormorant on the sloop Celandine, February-September 1918, being advanced to Able Seaman in May 1918. From 17 September 1917 he was based once more at Vivid I. Able Seaman Jefferies was taking passage on the American Coast Guard Cutter U.S.S. Tampa when she was torpedoed and sunk by the German UB-91 in the Bristol Channel.

The former U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Tampa was transferred to the U.S. Navy in April 1917 when the U.S.A. entered the war. She was employed in escorting convoys between England and Gibraltar, October 1917-July 1918.

During the late afternoon of 26 September 1918, the Tampa parted company from convoy HG-107, which she had just escorted into the Irish Sea from Gibraltar. Ordered to put into Milford Haven she proceeded independently. In the evening as she transited the Bristol Channel she was hit by one torpedo fired by the UB-91 at a range of 550 metres. Exploding, she sank with all hands - 115 officers and men together with 16 passengers - including Jefferies, aged 23 years. His name is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial. He was the son of Devas and Sarah Jefferies, of Weston-Birt, Tetbury, Gloucestershire.

The casualties on the Tampa constituted the highest single loss to the U.S. Navy in the Great War. Her loss is commemorated on the U.S.C.G. Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery and the Brookwood American Cemetery and Memorial in Surrey. In 1999, the crewmen of the Tampa were posthumously awarded the Purple Heart. With copied service paper and other research.