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Auction: 23001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 141

By this time quite a number of men had died. At first the men asked my permission to slide the body over the side. Only after we were absolutely sure that there was no spark of life in a man did I agree to this. Later it became more obvious when men were dead, progressively shorter intervals elapsed before they were "buried". Eventually a point was reached - on the third day I think - when a man took a good deal longer than usual to go through the final stages and was put overboard before he was dead. I protested when they began to do this, telling them he was still alive. However they retorted "He'll be dead soon anyhow", and continued. I called out "you can't do that it's murder"! The man was put overboard, resisting feebly, just the same. Immersion rallied him, and he held on to the side of the raft, grinning ghoulishly. He made some insulting remarks to the men who had put him over, and then, releasing his hold, drifted away.'

(The harrowing testimony of Lieutenant-Commander Watson, senior surviving officer of the Dunedin on the three day ordeal faced by the survivors after she was torpedoed off Western Africa)

The poignant 'loss of the Dunedin' group of seven awarded to Leading Telegraphist J. R. Salmon, R.N., who survived the Battle of Jutland, the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight and two separate periods of service in the Russian Intervention only to be killed in action when Dunedin was torpedoed 900 miles west of Freetown, Sierra Leone

1914-15 Star (J.21334, J. R. Salmon, O. Tel., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (J.21334 J. R. Salmon. L. Tel. R.N.); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; War Medal 1939-45; Royal Naval L.S. & G.C., G.V.R. (J.21334 J. R. Salmon L. Tel. H.M.S. Centaur.), heavy contact marks and edge wear to Great War medals, otherwise minor pitting, overall very fine (7)

Joseph Albert Salmon was born at Leyton, Essex on 27 December 1896 and enlisted with the Royal Navy on 5 November 1912. His first posting afloat was H.M.S Thesus and he reached his majority after the outbreak of war with the Battleship Neptune on 26 December 1914. He was still with Neptune in March 1915 when she was almost torpedoed by U-29.

Posted to Cylops Salmon retrained as a Telegraphist, receiving the rank of Ordinary Telegraphist on 6 November 1915. Posted back aboard Neptune in this role he was promoted Telegraphist there on 1 April 1916. He was still with her when she sailed to join Admiral Jellicoe's Fleet at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916.

Here Neptune formed part of the 1st Battle Squadron, being 19th in the British line of battle. During the action she fired 48 rounds from her 12-inch guns and was attacked by destroyers, attempting a torpedo run. Fortunately she was not hit either by the Torpedoes or at any other stage of the Battle.

Salmon stayed with Neptune after the fighting being further advanced Leading Telegraphist on 1 June 1917. Posted to the Light Cruiser Cardoc on 5 July 1917 he was to see action with her as part of the 1st Cruiser Squadron at the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight. Later Cardoc was posted to the Baltic as part of Operation Red Trek, the British effort to preserve the Baltic States from Soviet and German aggression.

Here she was involved in the bombardment of Russian positions in Estonia and later - at a pivotal moment in the war - destroyed a bridge which cut of Russian reinforcements coming from the direction of Petrograd. Cardoc also took part in the pursuit and capture of the destroyer Avtroil (for the Medals of Commander Harrison, D.S.O., please see Lot 325). Later transferring to the Mediterranean she was involved in operations against the Bolsheviks in the Crimea, notably performing several shore bombardments and even landing White Russian troops near Odessa.

Between the wars Salmon saw extended service with Malaya and Centaur, he was pensioned on 26 December 1936. He briefly returned to service during the Munich Crisis between 28 September-1 October 1938 before being demobilised again. Salmon returned to the colours on 28 September 1938 with his old rank of Leading Telegraphist and was posted to the cruiser Dunedin.

This Light Cruiser opened the war on convoy and anti-submarine patrols in the North Atlantic and Caribbean - performing valuable work in the latter when they convinced a number of Vichy French forces to join the Allies. While on convoy duty she was briefly engaged with the well-known commerce raider Admiral Hipper, during her attack on convoy WS5A. Operating in concert with the carrier Eagle, Dunedin was able to track down the German supply ship Lothringen. While searching her a number of vital wireless documents were discovered behind a cabinet in the wireless room.

Operating largely to enigma gathered intelligence by November 1941. Dunedin found herself off Sierra Leone while searching for the submarine supply ship Python. It was while performing this task that she came under the sights of U124, commanded by Jochen Mohr.

This U-boat had been attempting to rendezvous with Python but seeing a cruiser in the area decided to try their luck. Some manoeuvring from both Dunedin and U124 put the two on different headings and it seemed no confrontation would take place. U124 fired three torpedoes at the unlikely range of 4,000 yards. Remarkably two of the three hit in quick succession destroying the wireless office and leaving the ship badly holed and sinking.

A letter from Fred Hawks, the sole surviving Telegraphist on the crew describes the scene in the wireless office, stating:

'We in the wireless office stuck there doing our best to get out an SOS, but unfortunately a second torpedo struck the magazine aft of the office, blew the receivers, transmitters and the wireless staff all over the place. After that it was every man for himself and I reached the upper deck and [got] into the water by running down the ship's side. That was all in about six minutes. Soon after the ship quickly listed and then sank, approximately 25 minutes past [1] pm.'

Those who survived the initial sinking must have expected at best captivity as U124 rose from the water near the Carley Floats to inspect her kill. Any German sailors who went above deck were greeted with the defiant sound of over 200 sailors singing 'There will always be an England'. Despite this the Germans showed no interest in either rescuing nor condemning the British to an immediate death - simply slipping away for their rendezvous with Python.

The survivors were now in a truly poor position, despite lashing their rafts and floats together they had very little in the way of food or drink and were some 900 miles from land. Worse still they had been unable to get out a distress call and as such would not be missed for some time and even if they were their last position wasn't known. They drifted for three days enduring appalling conditions, attacks by carnivorous fish and sharks as well as an ever present thirst which drove many of them to hallucinations and even eventually madness. Picked up by the American Merchantman Nishmaha only 72 men still lived and of these another 5 died. Salmon was killed in the sinking, although whether in the initial action or on the rafts in not clear. He is commemorated upon the Portsmouth Naval Memorial; sold together with copied research comprising service records, commonwealth War Graves certificate and a copy of Lieutenant-Commander Watson's official report to the admiralty on the loss of Dunedin.

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Sold for
£270

Starting price
£150