Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Apprentice J. D. F. Jeans, Merchant Navy, who lost his life on the occasion the S.S. Chumleigh capsized when bound for Archangel in November 1942

1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; War Medal 1939-45, together with the recipient’s Minister of Transport condolence slip in the name of ‘John Douglas Frank Jeans’, and an original portrait photograph, good very fine or better (3) £60-80

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Awards to Merchant Seamen and D.E.M.S. Gunners.

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John Douglas Frank Jeans was born at Brockenhurst, Hampshire, in May 1923, the son of Major Frank Jeans. First going to sea as an Apprentice in the S.S. Marton in April 1940, he removed to the S.S. Chumleigh in February 1942, and it was aboard this latter vessel that he lost his life during a voyage to Archangel in November 1942, when, on the 5th, she struck a reef and capsized off South Cape, Spitbergen. The Master and eight crew managed to reach shore, but Jeans and 21 others perished. He was 19 years of age and is commemorated on the Merchant Navy Memorial at Tower Hill, London; sold with a file of research, including a copy of the Master’s extensive account of events on 5 November 1942.