A fine Second World War B.E.M. awarded to Chief Cook W. H. Caley, Merchant Navy, who was decorated for his gallant deeds aboard the tanker Kentucky during Malta convoy “Operation Harpoon” in June 1942 - she was crippled by enemy aircraft and had to be scuttled, but not before Caley - a cook - had done fine work on the after Oerlikon: he had already survived the loss of the Athel Queen in March of the same year, and added a King’s Commendation for Brave Conduct to his accolades for subsequent good work on the Arctic run

British Empire Medal, (Civil) G.VI.R., 1st issue (William Henry Caley), good very fine £400-500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Awards to Merchant Seamen and D.E.M.S. Gunners.

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B.E.M. London Gazette 22 December 1942. His Master’s original recommendation states:

‘Chief Cook W. Caley and Second Cook T. G. Sheville put up a magnificent show. They manned the after Oerlikon guns by themselves and kept it firing during the many attacks, although they did not claim to have brought down any of the planes. We had to do without food during the attacks but the Steward made us tea and sandwiches at intervals, and I really believe these two cooks enjoyed themselves more firing the gun than cooking. Anyway, they did wonderful work, and were cheerful and fearless throughout.’

King’s Commendation for Brave Conduct London Gazette 2 May 1944.

William Henry Caley, who was born in Birkenhead in June 1918, first went to sea in the 1939-45 War in the S.S. Marsdale, followed by a lengthy appointment in the Brisbane Star from September 1940 to January 1942. And it was in the latter month that he joined the Athel Queen, in time to witness her demise as a result of a torpedo strike delivered by the Italian submarine Tazzoli on 15 March, while bound from Hull to the Everglades. Her survivors reached Albaco Island, and, via Nassau, eventually Florida - on arriving off Albaco, five of the crew had jumped their lifeboat with the aim of swimming ashore, and three of them were ‘drowned or eaten by sharks’ (the Master’s report refers).

Just three months later, as cited above, Caley ‘put up a magnificent show’ manning the after Oerlikon aboard the tanker Kentucky during “Operation Harpoon”, one of the most hard fought Malta convoys of the War - severely damaged by a bomb strike as she neared the island, she had to be scuttled and finished off by an escort’s gunfire. In the event, just two of the convoy’s merchantmen made Valetta. He was awarded the B.E.M.

Back at sea in another tanker, the M.V. Pontfield (ex-Fordfield) by the end of 1942, he remained similarly employed until the end of 1943, a period encompassing that ship’s part in a number of Arctic convoys - in early 1943, she came under attack in the Kola Inlet, while alongside the M.V. San Cipriano. He was awarded the King’s Commendation for Brave Conduct; sold with a file of research, including copied official reports for the loss of the Athel Queen and Kentucky.