Auction Catalogue

2 April 2004

Starting at 10:00 AM

.

Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Grand Connaught Rooms  61 - 65 Great Queen St  London  WC2B 5DA

Lot

№ 214

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2 April 2004

Hammer Price:
£880

Four: Seaman J. Thomas, Royal Naval Reserve, who was lost when H.M.S. Goliath was torpedoed off Cape Helles on 13 May 1915

1914-15 Star
(D. 2104 Smn., R.N.R.); British War and Victory Medals (2104 D. Smn., R.N.R.); Royal Naval Reserve L.S., G.V.R., 1st issue (D. 2104 Sean., R.N.R.), with related Memorial Plaque (James Thomas), nearly extremely fine and a scarce combination to a Great War casualty (5) £350-400

James Thomas, a Cornishman, was lost aboard the battleship H.M.S. Goliath on 13 May 1915, when she was torpedoed off Cape Helles by a Turkish destroyer.

The
Goliath had earlier served off the East African coast in pursuit of the German light cruiser Konigsberg, and it was here in November 1914 that Commander Ritchie of the Goliath gained the first Naval V.C. of the Great War at the capital of German East Africa, Dar-es-Salaam.

After the destruction of the
Konigsberg the Goliath received orders to proceed to the Dardanelles, where she arrived in the middle of April 1915, but in the early hours of the morning of 13 May following, she was struck in quick succession by three torpedoes fired from the Turkish destroyer Mouavenet-Millieh, with the result that she sank so quickly that many of those below were drowned before they could reach the upper deck. Of her complement of some 750 men, about 570, including her Captain, were drowned.

Thomas, who left a widow who was resident at Marazion, Cornwall, is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial.