Miniature Medals

A superb “Q5” and “Pargust” Q-Ship D.S.M. group of five awarded to Chief Petty Officer F. J. Horwill, Royal Navy, who was decorated for the sinking of the U-83 in February 1917, and participated in the V.C. ballot for the sinking of the UC-29 in June 1917

Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R. (215946 P.O., Off W. Coast Ireland 17 Feb. 1917); 1914-15 Star Trio (215946 P.O. R.N.) surname spelt ‘Horwell’ on these three; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 1st issue (215946 H.M.A.S. Australia) together with original parchment Certificate of Service, Gunnery & Torpedo History Sheets, Educational Certificate for Petty Officer, various letters of recommendation, and forwarding letter for D.S.M. signed by Commander Gordon Campbell, contact wear, otherwise nearly very fine (5) £1400-1800

D.S.M. London Gazette 23 March 1917.

Awarded for Gordon Campbell’s action on 17 February 1917, off the west coast of Ireland, when at 9:45 a.m. Campbell, following proscribed Q-ship tactics, turned into the track of an enemy torpedo so as to allow it to hit Q5 aft by the engine-room bulkhead. The ‘panic party’ made a convincing departure in boats as the ship began to settle by the stern. Campbell and the guns’ crews, meanwhile, lay prone in their hiding places on the upper deck as the barely submerged U-boat, U-83 commanded by Hoppe, closed to within twenty yards. At 10:05 the submarine broke surface 300 yards off the port bow, but in a position where none of Q5’s guns could bear. Gradually, however, the submarine passed down the port side with the intention of securing the ship’s papers from the ‘crew’ in the boats. As U-83 motored abeam of Q5, Campbell could see that she was fully surfaced, with the conning tower open and Hoppe on the bridge. At 10:10 he gave the order to open fire. The guns’ crews got off forty five rounds at point blank range, nearly all of which hit. U-83 sank with the loss of all hands but one officer and a seaman. Q5 in sinking condition was taken in tow by the destroyer Narwhal and the sloop Buttercup and eventually beached.

In March 1917 Horwill and almost all of Q5’s crew elected to follow Gordon Campbell to his next command, another converted collier, formerly the Vittoria but renamed Pargust, which was fitted out with improved equipment and armament, including a 4-inch gun. The decoy Pargust went to sea in May, and on 7 June, when well out into the Atlantic, she was torpedoed at such close range by Käpitan-Leutnant Rose’s UC-29 that Campbell could not have avoided being hit even if he had wished it. The ‘panic party’, complete with a stuffed parrot in a cage, took to the boats in the usual way and rowed along Pargust‘s starboard side hoping the U-boat, which was only showing her periscope, would follow. She did and at 8:36 after surfacing, Campbell opened fire. Thirty-eight shells were fired and as the U-boat tried to get under way she blew up and sank. Pargust was towed into Queenstown next day and later paid off at Plymouth. Two Victoria Crosses were awarded to the ship under Rule Thirteen, with Lieutenant Stuart being selected by ballot as the representative officer and Seaman William Williams as the representative rating.

Francis John Horwill was born in Exeter, Devon, on 5 February 1886, and joined the Royal Navy on 25 June 1901. Having qualified as Gunner’s Mate in January 1916, it is reasonable to assume that, when he joined H.M.S. Q5 in January 1917, he was assigned to the gun’s crew. His Certificate of Service notes that he shared in ‘£1000 Prize Bounty awarded by the Admiralty’ (again signed by Gordon Campbell), was ‘Paid Prize Money for the destruction of Submarines U-83, 17 Feby. 1917 & UC-29, 7 July 17. £8-12-8’, and that he ‘Participated ballot for the award of the Victoria Cross to one of the ship’s company H.M.S. “Pargust” June 1917.’

Horwill was paid off from Pargust in October 1917 for service with the Royal Australian Navy aboard H.M.A.S. Australia, where he remained until December 1920, receiving his L.S. & G.C. aboard that ship in October 1919. He joined the Royal Fleet Reserve in 1926 and continued to serve until discharged from the R.F.R. in February 1936, aged 50, when he rejoined the Royal Navy as a Chief Petty Officer (Pensioner), serving until April 1942 when he was discharged ‘Physically unfit for Naval Service.’