Auction: 23111 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 684
An extremely well-documented H.M.S. Renown Royal-Tour group of six awarded to Petty Officer F. Clarke, Royal Navy, who was aboard H.M.S. Staunch when she was torpedoed by UC38 alongside M15 and with H.M.S. Tobego when she struck a mine during the Greco-Turkish War
Clarke was privileged to be with Renow during the Royal Tour of Australia, collecting a great deal of ephemera in the process and finally returned to service during the Second World War only to die on 2 March 1943
1914-15 Star (J19400 F Clarke A.B. R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (J.19400 F. Clarke. A.B. R.N.); Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Royal Naval L.S. & G.C., G.V.R. (J.19400 F. Clarke. P.O. H.M.S. Renown.), the great war and long service medals mounted as worn, the unnamed medals with their O.H.M.S. box of issue and a named condolence slip, polished, contact marks, overall very fine (6)
Frederick Clarke was born at St. Pancras, London on 7 March 1895 and enlisted with the Royal Navy at Vivid I as Boy Class II on 7 August 1912.
H.M.S. Staunch
Reaching his majority aboard the Battleship Implacable on 7 March 1913, he was posted to the Acorn-class destroyer Staunch on 9 August 1915. At this time she was serving with the fifth destroyer flotilla in the Mediterranean under Captain Charles Coode.
This vessel was present off Gaza as part of the naval support for British troops at the Third Battle of Gaza along with a mixed flotilla of monitors and riverboats. Here she fell under the sights of UC38, a UCII-class U-boat operating from Pola on the Adriatic coast. They attacked on the night of 11 November 1917 targeting monitor M15 and Staunch. Despite her being larger less of the crew on the better armoured destroyer were lost with only 8 dead as opposed to M15's 26. Clarke was one of those to escape the destruction of the vessel and was posted back to shore at Victory I.
By the end of the war he was again given a posting afloat with H.M.S. Tobago, an S-class destroyer. Clarke joined this vessel at her posting in the Mediterranean where she was assigned to protect British interests during the Greco-Turkish war.
H.M.S. Tobago
He was still with her when, while patrolling to Turkish coast off Trabzon she struck a mine, causing significant damage to her boilers in the process. Limping back to Istanbul it soon became clear that Tobago couldn't be repaired and instead she was struck off and scrapped.
The Renown Royal Tour
Clarke continued to serve, being promoted Petty Officer aboard H.M.S. Columbine on 28 May 1925. He was still serving in this role when he was posted to Renown on 5 September 1926. While performing this role he was present on the ship for her Royal Tour of Australia in 1927. The tour was intended to serve as a show of respect and encouragement to nations such as Australia and New Zealand who had given so much during the Great War. The young Duke of York, later George VI, was chosen to lead the tour and performed admirably, opening the new parliament house at Canbarra on 9 May 1927. Clarke was certainly present for several of the events that surrounded the Royal Tour, as he was in possession of a number programmes and passes related to it. Notably during the return journey Renow's boilers caught fire and the crew had to fight to put them out.
Final Service
Clarke continued to serve, being issued with an L.S. & G.C. while still with Renown. Later posted to such vessels as Royal Sovereign and Champion he was finally pensioned on 6 March 1935. Returning to service on the outbreak of the Second World War Clarke served with H.M.S. Vernon but died of a heart attack while at Beaver II on 2 March 1943; sold together with a copied Commonwealth War Graves Certificate and service record as well as an archive of original material comprising:
i)
A log book contain voyages made between 27 February 1919 and 12 December 1930, named 'F. Clarke'.
ii)
A large number of photographs both original and copied, many annotated.
iii)
A number of postcards of naval scenes including several of the 1927 H.M.S. Renown Royal Tour.
iv)
A 1927 Royal Tour Souvenir picture book.
v)
Several programmes of the 1927 cruise.
vi)
The Renown Record, Volume I, No. 2.
vii)
Two passes for the .Ship's Company Enclosure'.
ix)
Programmes for the visits to Jamaica, Western Australia and New South Wales.
x)
An H.M.S. Renown January 1927 concert programme.
xi)
City of Melbourne dinner menu for the Petty Officers and Men of Renown on the occasion of the Royal Tour.
xii)
Bay Islands Royal Tour Souvenir booklet.
xiii)
A map of Sydney and its environs.
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Sold for
£210
Starting price
£110
