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

№ 1303

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2 April 2004

Hammer Price:
£850

An inter-war B.E.M. group of five to Leading Seaman L. E. Mayes, Royal Navy, for salvaging gold from the “Laurentic

British Empire Medal, (Civil) G.V.R. (Ldg. Sea. Leonard Ernest Mayes, O.N.J. 21500 (P.O.)), on 2nd type civil ribbon; 1914-15 Star (J.21500 Ord., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (L.21500 A.B., R.N.); Royal Navy L.S.& G.C., G.V.R., 2nd issue, fixed suspension (J.21500 P.O., H.M.S. Courageous), mounted for wear, worn and better (5) £200-250

B.E.M. London Gazette 9 December 1924.

The White Star liner
Laurentic, commanded by Captain R. A. Norton and serving as an armed merchant cruiser, left Liverpool for Halifax, Nova Scotia. On 25 January 1917, whilst steaming at full speed and without lights to escape the attention of submarines, she struck two mines off Lough Swilly and sank in 45 minutes, taking gold bars valued at £5,000,000 with her to the bottom, 120 feet below. Fifteen boats got clear of the doomed ship but only seven were saved; the others were either swamped or blown out to sea. No fewer than 354 out of a complement of 475 officers and men lost their lives. The loss of the Laurentic was shrouded in secrecy by Whitehall, so as to cover up the great financial loss to the country, the bullion being sent overseas to pay for munitions. Regardless of the difficulty, efforts were soon made to recover the sunken gold. The Admiralty called in their top diving expert - Commander G. C. D. Damant, to lead the salvage operations and he in turn had his pick of the navy’s best divers. Choosing twelve men, diving operations began in February 1917 and by the end of the month £32,000 of bullion had been recovered. Bad weather causing a shift in the wreck and other war work hampered operations but by the end of the year the total recovered had mounted to £800,000. Salvage work on the deteriorating wreck continued year by year, until in 1924, the work was deemed complete, with only twenty-five of the 3,211 gold bars not recovered. For their sterling work, Damant was promoted Captain and the divers were each awarded the B.E.M. They also shared a bounty of £6,739. The recovery of the gold is ranked as one of the greatest salvage operations ever undertaken. Sold with copied research.