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Auction: 20001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - conducted behind closed doors
Lot: 633

A fine Great War 'Merchant Service' O.B.E. group of three to Chief Engineer J. Lewis, who kept the Demodocus seaworthy when torpedoed by a German U-boat in the English Channel

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Civil Division, Officer's (O.B.E.) 1st type breast Badge, 65mm including crown suspension x 49mm, silver-gilt, the reverse lower arm bearing hallmarks for Sebastian Garrard, London 1923, in Garrard & Co. fitted leather box of issue; British War Medal 1914-19 (John Lewis); Mercantile Marine War Medal 1914-19 (John Lewis), with two related riband bars, very fine (3)

O.B.E. London Gazette 7 January 1919.

John Lewis was born at Liverpool in 1856. On 22 January 1884, he gained his Board of Trade Certificate of Competency as a First Class Engineer in the Merchant Service. His leather-bound discharge papers state that he was Chief Engineer aboard the Alcinous, a Scott & Co. ocean liner launched at Greenock on 7 December 1899. She left Birkenhead on 4 May 1901, bound for Japan, calling at numerous ports across the globe. After sailing to China and Java aboard Alcinous in 1909, Lewis transferred to the Machaon on 22 May 1910. He was her Chief Engineer at the start of the Great War, and took part in the voyage from Liverpool to Vladivostok in 1916. On 19 January 1917 he transferred to Demodocus at Birkenhead. On 15 September this cargo ship was torpedoed and damaged in the Irish Sea by the German U-boat SM U-67, with the loss of four crew. She beached but was later refloated, Lewis' engineering skills coming to the fore. For his services he was made an O.B.E. in the 1919 New Year's Honours List. He finished his career as Chief Engineer of the Idomeneus on 30 August 1919.

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Sold for
£280

Starting price
£280