Three: Acting Leading Seaman A. Emsley, Howe Battalion, Royal Naval Division, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, who survived the sinking of the armed boarding vessel Ramsey by the disguised German minelayer Meteor on 8 August 1915

1914 Star, with copy clasp (SX 2/286. A. Emsley, A.B. R.N.V.R. Howe Bttn. R.N.D.); British War and Victory Medals (S.2-286 A. Emsley Act. L.S. R.N.V.R.) slight contact marks, very fine (3) £200-£240

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to Recipients of the 1914 Star.

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Albert Emsley was born at Steyning, Sussex on 13 May 1887 and joined the Royal Navy on 17 June 1904. He served in the steam yacht Firequeen, the cruiser H.M.S. Sapphire, the battleship H.M.S. Illustrious, and as an Officer’s Steward 2nd Class on the cruiser H.M.S. Leviathon before being discharged to shore on 16 December 1907. Following the outbreak of the Great War, he was enrolled in the Sussex Division of the Royal Naval Division on 13 August 1914 and served as an Able Seaman with the Howe Battalion in Belgium and France until returned to Portsmouth and posted to barracks on 28 October 1914.

On 19 November 1914, Emsley joined the 98 man complement of the H.M.S Ramsey, a ferry commandeered by H.M. Government, fitted with two twelve pounder guns and converted for use as an armed boarding vessel. In the course of the next few months the Ramsey challenged many vessels, sometimes bringing a prize crew aboard and taking the suspect into port. On her last patrol, on 8 August 1915, she was deceived and sunk in the North Sea by the German auxiliary minelayer Meteor disguised as a Russian tramp steamer. When the Ramsey got close, the Germans pulled down the Russian flag and, hoisting the German flag, fired machine guns and torpedoes, sinking the Ramsey in four minutes. Able Seaman Emsley was among the 46 survivors picked up by the German ship. The next day, British ships overwhelmed and forced the scuttling of the Meteor but not before Able Seaman Emsley and the other British prisoners had been transferred to neutral ships.

Emsley served in the battleship, H.M.S. Emperor of India from 10 February 1916 until 31 May 1917 and was demobilised ashore on 6 November 1919.