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Auction: 22003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 375

THE RUSSIAN INTERVENTION

'The news from up country was serious, the Bolsheviks having overcome the feeble resistance offered in the northern Crimea were now advancing rapidly southwards. Refugees were streaming into Yalta and on to the pier in ever increasing numbers, seeking safety. Soon a state of chaos reigned amongst this throng of terrified and distraught people. Children became separated from their parents and husbands from their wives and it is doubtful whether some of these unfortunate creatures ever met again. Many arrived on the pier with no other possessions than the clothes they wore. I saw one family arrive in such a state of utter panic that on reaching the harbour they jumped out of their motor car and dashed down the pier leaving the engine of the car still running. On that quay there were enough abandoned cars to provide at least one for every officer in the ship. However, the opportunity could not be taken for we were too busily occupied on more urgent business. In the evening we were warned by the police that a rising of the local Bolsheviks might break out at any moment, and at the former's request we kept searchlights playing on the town all through that haunted night.

The evacuation of Yalta, though much interfered with by a strong wind and rough sea, continued during the following three days … During the whole of this time a succession of people arrived on board asking to see the Empress Marie and to beg her to take them with her. I fear that Her Majesty was frequently greatly distressed by the pathetically urgent pleas which she was unable to meet …

On 11 April 1919 our promise to Her Majesty The Empress Marie had been fulfilled, the evacuation of Yalta was complete and H.M.S. Marlborough could sail for Constantinople.

We had then on board twenty members of the Imperial family, including two small children, and in addition twenty-five ladies and gentlemen of the suites of Her Majesty, the Grand Duchess Xenia and the Grand Dukes Nicholas and Peter. Maids, servants and others added a further thirty-six to the number for whom accommodation, of a kind, had been found on board. I estimated that by the time we sailed that day, in addition to our passengers, we were carrying some two hundred tons of luggage … '

Close of a Dynasty, by Vice-Admiral Sir Francis Pridham, K.B.E., C.B., refers.

A notable Great War campaign group of three awarded to Lieutenant-Commander J. M. Mackie, Royal Navy, who was nominated for the rare accolade of the Russian St. Anne Medal of Distinction for Foreigners

An old Russia hand, who had served in H.M.S. Jupiter during crucial White Sea ice-breaking operations in 1915, he was afterwards present in H.M.S. Marlborough at the evacuation of members of the Imperial Russian royal family from Yalta in April 1919

1914-15 Star (Gnr. J. M. Mackie, R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (Ch. Gnr. J. M. Mackie, R.N.), very fine (3)

James Mann Mackie was born on 3 December 1874 and was appointed a Gunner R.N. in October 1901.

White Sea icebreaker

By the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, he was serving in H.M.S. Jupiter and he was to remain similarly employed until January 1917, latterly as a Chief Gunner.

In January 1915, the Admiralty received a request for assistance from the Russian Government, an icebreaker used to keep open the passage to Archangel in the White Sea having broken down. In response, the Royal Navy sent out the Jupiter, an old Majestic-class battleship. She departed for Archangel in February 1915, freeing a number of vessels stuck in the ice, occasionally by using explosive charges.

She, too, sometimes became icebound, but still managed to make a major impression, improving the safe passage of numerous vessels, many of them laden with highly important war materials, among them the S.S. Thracia; the latter was taken in tow after the use of explosive charges to free her. Throughout these operations it was not unusual for the temperature to fall as low as minus 20 degrees, a hard test indeed on the morale and well-being of the Jupiter's crew.

Her mission completed by May 1915, the Czar expressed his gratitude by awarding a variety of Russian Honours and Awards to her crew. Among those honoured was Mackie, who was nominated for the rare accolade of the St. Anne Medal of Distinction for Foreigners; his service record refers, but whether he ever received the award in remains unknown.

Black Sea - Royal rescue

In January 1917, Mackie came ashore to an appointment in Devonport but, in January 1919, he joined the battleship Marlborough, an appointment that would renew his acquaintance with Russia. Here, then, as outlined above, Marlborough's famous rescue of members of the Russian royal family from Yalta in April 1919; for further details of that momentous event, see:

https://www.alexanderpalace.org/palace/marlborough.php

To what extent Mackie came into contact with Marlborough's royal entourage remains unknown but following the safe deliverance of her distinguished passengers, the ship sailed for Kertch Peninsula to conduct tests with new high-explosive 6-inch shells. While stationed off the peninsula - and very much up Chief Gunner Mackie's street - Marlborough provided support to the White Russians, bombarding Bolshevik positions at Koi-Asan and Dal Kamici

Subsequent career

Coming ashore in June 1920, Mackie was advanced to Lieutenant in August of the same year and was finally placed on the Retired List in 1924. It was in this capacity that he was advanced to Lieutenant-Commander (Retd.) in August 1930.

For related family awards, see Lot 377.


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Sold for
£400

Starting price
£320