Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The Great War D.S.O. group of six awarded to Vice-Admiral D. F. Moir, Royal Navy, a destroyer commander at the battles of Dogger Bank, Heligoland Bight and Jutland, who was killed when, as Commodore of Convoy SC-94 travelling from Nova Scotia to Britain, his ship Trehata was torpedoed and sunk by U-176 in August 1942

Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamel; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 2 clasps, Cape Colony, South Africa 1901 (Sub. Lieut. D. F. Moir, R.N., H.M.S. Thrush.); Africa General Service 1902-56, 1 clasp, Aro 1901-1902 (Sub: Lieut: D. F. Moir, H.M.S. Thrush); 1914-15 Star (Commr. D. F. Moir, R.N.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Commr. D. F. Moir, R.N.) original court mounting but the first detached, centre of D.S.O. a little loose, otherwise good very fine (6) £2,600-£3,000

80 Q.S.A. medals to H.M.S. Thrush, but only 15 with clasps, including 2 officers and a surgeon.

45 clasps for Aro 1901-1902 issued to the Royal Navy, all to H.M.S. Thrush, including 3 officers and a surgeon.

D.S.O. London Gazette 8 March 1918:
‘For services in Destroyer and Torpedo Boat Flotillas during the period ending 31st December 1917.

M.I.D. London Gazette 15 September 1916:
‘For services in the Battle of Jutland.’

Dashwood Fowler Muir was born at St Andrews, Scotland, on 16 August 1880, and entered the Royal Navy as a Naval Cadet on 15 July 1894; Midshipman, 15 December 1896; Sub-Lieutenant, 15 June 1900; Lieutenant, 26 June 1902; Lieutenant-Commander, 26 June 1910; Commander, 30 June 1914; Captain, 30 June 1919; Rear-Admiral, 19 July 1931, and placed on the Retired List the following day; Vice-Admiral, 2 January 1936.

After a period as Midshipman in the battleship Renown in the Mediterranean, Moir was appointed as Sub-Lieutenant to the screw gunboat Thrush on the Cape of Good Hope station, where he participated in the latter stages of the South African war (Medal with 2 clasps) and afterwards in the Aro operations of 1901-02 on the coast of West Africa, and was ‘favourably mentioned in connection with the expedition up the Niger River’ (Medal with clasp).

Following a period of training he qualified to act as Instructor in Physical Training. In early 1907, he received his first command, that of Torpedo Boat No. 7, followed by that of T.B. No. 117 in May 1909. He was appointed to the command of the destroyer Ariel in January 1912 and commanded her in the actions of Dogger Bank and Heligoland Bight in 1914. In December 1914 he took command of the destroyer Goshawk in which he fought at the battle of Jutland when he commanded a division of the First Destroyer Flotilla. He was mentioned in despatches following the battle. In 1917 he was given the new destroyer Vimiera and in July 1918 moved to the Valhalla, having been awarded the D.S.O. earlier in the year.

He left Valhalla in January 1919, and in December 1920 he commanded Bruce at the head of the Fourth Destroyer Flotilla. In 1921 he moved to Mackay, a Submarine tender. During 1925 and 1926 he was Flag Captain for the naval dockyards on Malta, and in 1929 he took over H.M. Dockyards in Sheerness. In early 1931 he was given his final large ship H.M.S. Glorious, an aircraft carrier on patrol in the Mediterranean. Placed on the Retired List as Rear-Admiral in July 1931, he was promoted to Vice Admiral in 1936.

In the Second World War he was created Commodore (Second Class) in the Royal Navy Reserve in October 1941 and put on active duty supporting convoys at the rank of Commodore of Convoy. He successfully led Convoy ON-36 and Convoy HX-165, the latter he controlled from H.M.S. Pacific Explorer to the rear.

Convoy SC-94 set off from Sydney, Nova Scotia, in July 1942 with Moir acting as Commodore of the merchant fleet in the Trehata. The convoy was discovered by a German ‘wolf pack’ on 5 August and over the course of the next five days eleven merchant ships were sunk by the U-boats. The Trehata was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-176 on 8 August, near Cape Farewell on the Greenland coast, with the loss of 31 lives including that of Vice-Admiral Dashwood Moir who was declared ‘missing presumed dead’ on the following day. He was one of the most senior Royal Navy officers to be killed in the Second World War. He is commemorated by name on the Liverpool Naval Memorial.

Sold with a small silver trophy cup by Mappin & Webb, London 1935, inscribed ‘Royal Navy and Royal Marines Golfing Society Handicap Challenge Cup presented by R.N. and R.M. Sports Control Board. 1938 D. F. Moir V-A’; a small silver cross, hallmarked Birmingham 1900, inscribed ‘Kent County F.C. Rugby Union Challenge Cup 1901. Won by Royal Naval College F.C. D. F. Moir.’, and a gilt livery button.