Orders, Decorations and Medals

Three: Engine Room Artificer F. E. Williams, Royal Navy, killed in action in H.M. Submarine E.20 when it was sunk in the Sea of Marmora in November 1915
1914-15 Star Trio (M.3935, E.R.A.3, R.N.) together with card boxes of issue, forwarding letter for medals and Bronze Memorial Plaque (Frank Edgar Williams) good very fine and a rare casualty (4) £300-350

Frank Edgar Williams was killed in action when H.M. Submarine E.20 was torpedoed on 5 Novemebr 1915, by the German submarine UB.14, in the Sea of Marmora.

E.20 had a pre-arranged rendezvous that night with the French submarine Turquoise. However, on the 30th October the Turquoise had ran ashore alongside a Turkish fort and unable to get off, the captain had surrendered with his crew to save unnecessary loss of life. By the greatest misfortune, he omitted to destroy his papers and among them was a note giving the time and position of the rendezvous with E.20. As E.20 lay on the surface waiting for the Turquoise, the German submarine UB.14 arrived submerged and without warning, fired two torpedoes which struck the E.20 amidships, sinking her and killing a number of her crew.

Captain Heimburg, UB.14’s skipper later gave a vivid eye-witness account of the sinking:- ‘We got a perfect shot. A tremendous explosion, a cloud of smoke on the water. When the smoke disappeared, no submarine was to be seen, only men swimming around in the water. We picked up nine Britishers including the captain, a young Lieutenant Warren. Warren, it would seem had been brushing his teeth when the torpedo struck and he was only half conscious as he was dragged aboard the U-boat. He was revived by the German sailors who asked him if there was anything he wanted. ‘Yes,’ he replied ‘a toothbrush’, and on being handed one he continued brushing his teeth. Heimburg admitted that he could not vouch for the veracity of the anecdote but ‘it’s a tip-top yarn whether it’s true or not,’ he added! Sold with research including a fine copy photograph of the E.20 with 28 crew on deck.