Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War D.S.O. group of three awarded to Lieutenant J. Martin, Royal Naval Reserve and Mercantile Marine, who was decorated and commissioned for his zeal and devotion to duty on the occasion that the lightly armed merchantman Caspian was attacked and sunk by the German submarine U-34 in May 1917; the Captain having being killed, he took charge, only abandoning the ship after 23 of her crew were dead and all ammunition was spent - he later commanded the Q-ships Dargle and Fresh Hope 1917-18

Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamel, with integral top riband bar; British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. J. Martin, R.N.R.) good very fine (3) £1,000-£1,400

D.S.O. London Gazette 19 December 1917:
‘In recognition of zeal and devotion to duty shown in carrying on the trade of the country during the War.’

James Martin, a native of Sunderland, was born in 1847 and was granted a temporary commission as a Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve on 10 August 1915, aged 68. He was given command of the Admiralty trawler Filey from 30 August, armed with one 12 pounder gun. The following year he was discharged from the Royal Naval Reserve and had his commission cancelled due to misconduct in being drunk on board his ship on 20 January 1916. However, finding employment as Chief Officer of the lightly armed merchantman S.S. Caspian of the Mercantile Marine, Martin was to be redeemed by his actions the following year when on 20 May 1917, the highly successful German submarine U-34 attacked the S.S. Caspian 3.5 miles off Alicante. During an action lasting over two hours, in which the Master, Arthur Douse, and 23 members of the crew were killed, Martin was left in charge of the Caspian and only after all the ammunition was used, the surviving crew members took to the boats. The U-boat then took just three prisoners aboard (the Chief Engineer, 2nd Officer and a gunner) and then proceeded to torpedo and sink the Caspian. Chief Officer Martin was awarded the D.S.O. for his zeal and devotion to duty on this occasion and gazetted a Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve once more, later receiving his award at the hands of the King at Buckingham Palace on 11 September 1918. He was 70 years old at the time of the action and was stated at the time to be the oldest man ever to have won the decoration. Three other crew members received the D.S.C.

Martin’s re-appointment as Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve was dated 19 May 1917 and he was given command of the Q-ship Dargle in the following month, a topsail schooner fitted out with a 4-inch and two 12-pounders. Operating out of Lerwick, she certainly had a number of encounters with enemy submarines.

In a lengthy patrol report sent to the Admiral Commanding, Orkney and Shetland, on 16 August 1917, Martin expressed his doubts about the Dargle’s suitability for Q-ship operations:
‘It is my opinion that this vessel owing to her uncommon build is marked and suspected by enemy submarines of being armed. Three times in my experience submarines have been in the vicinity and no attempt made to attack us has been made until we had a torpedo fired at us. As a decoy ship she is a failure, and I should recommend her being handed back to her owners, and the guns, engines and material being taken out of her and fitted in a vessel more serviceable.’

Martin’s report swiftly invoked the Admiral Commanding to send a scathing report to the C.-in-C. Grand Fleet:
‘I consider that the present Commanding Officer of the Special Service Vessel Dargle is not suitable for appointment in command of a Special Service Vessel. Lieutenant J. Martin, R.N.R., is of an excitable temperament which is most undesirable. At various interviews he has not impressed me or members of my staff as being a suitable officer for his present command. He is constantly using his motors and does not appear to realise the importance of making his vessel look like a peaceful merchant ship, as will be seen from the letter of the Rear-Admiral, Stornaway ... I am therefore desirous of giving her another trial under a new Commanding Officer and submit that Lieutenant Martin may be relieved.’

As a result, according to Carson Ritchie’s Q-Ships:
‘Martin resigned from his command on the grounds of ill-health, but Captain James Startin, Senior Naval Officer, Granton, who felt that he was a very capable officer, but ‘certainly difficult as regards naval etiquette and discipline’, had him transferred to another vessel. A year later, as commander of the Fresh Hope, another sailing Q-ship, Martin justified this good opinion by bringing the fore-and-aft schooner into an encounter with a U-boat on which he scored four direct hits.’

Lieutenant Martin was placed on the retired list on 28 June 1920 and died in 1929 aged 82.

Sold with copied research and medal roll extracts, that shows that the recipient additionally received the 1914-15 Star. Another Lieutenant J. Martin (John Martin) is also on the medal roll of the Royal Naval Reserve, also entitled to a 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, and Victory Medal.