Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An early Great War cruiser operations D.S.M. group of five awarded to Chief Shipwright F. F. Quin, Royal Navy

Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R. (138136 F. F. Quinn, Ch. Shpt., H.M.S. Patuca); 1914-15 Star (138136, D.S.M., Ch. Shpt., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (138136 Ch. Shpt., R.N.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., V.R., narrow suspension (Ch. Carp. Mate., H.M.S. Vernon), impressed naming, surname spelt ‘Quinn’, the last with attempted erasure of the second ‘n’ in surname, generally very fine and better (5) £600-700

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals for Services at Sea from the Collection of the Late Oliver Stirling Lee.

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D.S.M. London Gazette 7 August 1915: ‘For services in the Patrol Cruisers since the outbreak of war.’

Francis Felix Quin was born at Landport, Hampshire in December 1863 and entered the Royal Navy as a Shipwright in August 1886. Advanced to Chief Carpenter’s Mate in September 1898 and awarded his L.S. & G.C. Medal in October 1901, he was pensioned ashore in August 1908.

Recalled on the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, he briefly served in the Northern Patrol Force aboard the cruiser H.M.S. Edgar before transferring to the armed merchant cruiser Patuca, in which ship he won his D.S.M., almost certainly for his services on the occasion of her collision with the Swedish steamer Oscar II, on passage from Buenos Aires to Christiana with a cargo of coffee, hides, etc.

The Patuca fell in with this vessel early on the morning of 1 July 1915, with disastrous results. The Osacr II struck the Patuca on the starboard bow, crushing her own bow, and then, rubbing alongside, she was holed in the engine-room by the patrol ship’s propeller. Some plates of the Patuca were damaged, and the flange of her propeller was badly bent, but collision mats were requisitioned, and, by shoring up her side and filling in the spaces between the damaged plates with cement, she was made sufficiently seaworthy to proceed to the Clyde at 14 knots.

The damage sustained by the Swedish ship was more serious, and she started making water badly. The engine-room filled, putting out the fires, and her crew abandoned her and went on board the Patuca. Extreme efforts were subsequently made by a number of R.N. vessels to save the Oscar II but, in ever worsening seas, and with the tow parting on numerous occasions, she finally sank in the evening of the following day.

As Chief Shipwright on board the Patuca, Quinn would have been responsible for shoring up the collision damage, thus enabling her to make the safety of a home port. He left her in November 1917, went ashore to a training establishment and thence to the Portland depot ship Research, and was demobilised in February 1919.