The British War Medal awarded to Pioneer H. K. Gow, Royal Engineers, who died when the Troopship Transylvania was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-Boat on 4 May 1917

British War Medal 1914-20 (66716 Pnr. H. K. Gow. R.E.) extremely fine £60-£80

Harry Kenneth Gow was born in Stockwell, London, on 17 October 1897, the son of Neil Alexander Gow. He enlisted at Shepherd’s Bush for the Royal Engineers and was ordered to the R.E. Base Signal Depot, Egypt, in the late spring of 1917. Embarked at Marseilles for Alexandria per Transylvania 3 May 1917, the voyage across the Mediterranean was initially uneventful. Flanked by the Japanese destroyers Matsu and Sakaki, the Transylvania attempted to hug the French and Italian coastlines, thus restricting the direction of attack by German U-Boats. The tactic failed; at 10 a.m. the next morning she was struck in the engine room by a single torpedo from the submarine U-63, near the island of Bergeggi in the Ligurian Sea. An eyewitness account from a fellow Pioneer, No. 127051 Sidney Valentine Sillence-Lovell, as published in The Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Telegraph on 9 June 1917, sets the scene:
‘Suddenly our ship seemed to bump. It was a little shock which I attributed to the engines, and was surprised at the excited cry “We are torpedoed!” I ran on the highest deck and secured my lifebelt. Boats were immediately lowered, and the Red Cross nurses rowed away to our cheering.’

With the ship remaining steady there was a general consensus that all would be well, especially when the Matsu came alongside and began to remove men. The gravity of the situation amongst the fresh recruits was heavily underestimated however, and it wasn’t long before a second torpedo slammed into the side of Transylvania. Sillence-Lovell continues:
‘I was leaning overboard when, bang! followed by a rush of water at the hatchway. This was a nasty hit and many must have been killed by the explosion. A boat load was beneath me, the explosion blowing it to pieces. At 11.10, an hour after the first torpedo, our good old troopship rose to the perpendicular, and then adieu. Many were with my thoughts as I rocked to and fro in our little ship. A good number sank with our troopship, particularly R.A.M.C. men.’

The loss of the Transylvania cost the lives of 373 soldiers, 29 army officers and 10 crew, including Captain Brennell. 89 bodies were retrieved from the sea and buried in a small cemetery in Savona, whilst further victims were carried by the Mediterranean currents back along the coast to France, Monaco and Spain. Soldiers Died in The Great War confirms Gow’s death at Sea, either by drowning or at the time of the two torpedo explosions. Aged 19 years, he is buried at Mazargues War Cemetery in Marseilles, his headstone bearing the poignant inscription: ‘Gone from us but not forgotten, never shall his memory fade.’

Note: The British War Medal is the recipient’s sole medallic entitlement; he did not receive a Victory Medal.