Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Eight: Chief Petty Officer Wilfred Warren, Royal Navy, who was awarded the George Medal for saving life after the sinking of the M.V. Princess Victoria off Scotland in January 1953

Naval General Service 1915-62, 1 clasp, Palestine 1936-1939 (JX.136660 W. Warren. A.B. R.N.); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star; Pacific Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Royal Fleet Reserve L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R., 2nd issue (JX.136660 W. Warren. PO.B.25744 P.O. R.F.R.) very fine (8) £300-£400

G.M. London Gazette 6 October 1953.

‘Lieutenant-Commander Stanley Lawrence McArdle, M.V.O., Royal Navy.
Chief Petty Officer Wilfred Warren, P/JX136660.

At about 1645 on 31st January, 1953, after the sinking of the M.V. Princess Victoria in heavy seas in the North Channel [off mouth of Loch Ryan, south-west Scotland], H.M.S. Contest was brought alongside a survivor clinging to a raft. He was obviously at the limit of his endurance and, as the raft surged ahead in the rough seas, he let go. Lieutenant-Commander McArdle, without a moment’s hesitation, put a lifeline around his waist and dived into the water. He grabbed the man and brought him back to the ship’s scrambling net. When Chief Petty Officer Warren saw that Lieutenant-Commander McArdle was in difficulties, he at once put a line round his waist and jumped into the water to help to rescue the exhausted man. The ship was rolling heavily and all three men were nearly swept under her.
The gallantry and presence of mind shown by Lieutenant-Commander McArdle and Chief Petty Officer Warren, in the quite exceptional weather conditions, undoubtedly saved the man’s life.’

Sold with copied pages from Death of the Princess Victoria giving further details and an image of C.P.O. Warren, and other copied research.

The whereabouts of Warren’s G.M. is not known