Orders, Decorations and Medals

Three: Able Seaman E. S. Parker, Royal Navy

1914-15 Star (J.22394 A.B., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (J.22394 A.B., R.N.); together with memorial plaque (Ernest Samuel Parker); boxes of issue; transmission slip for medals; Buckingham Palace letter for plaque; H.M.S. Vanguard silver sweetheart brooch, inscribed ‘H.M.S. Vanguard, Battle of Jutland May 31st 1916’; a purse in the form of a sailors cap, containing part of a shell fuse, extremely fine (4) £100-130

Able Seaman Ernest Samuel Parker was killed at Scapa Flow on 9 July 1917 when H.M.S. Vanguard blew up as a result of an internal eplosion, with the loss of nearly every man on board. During the Great War the Royal Navy lost 4 ships to internal explosions whilst lying in harbour, the other three being, H.M.S. Bulwark, H.M.S. Natal (see following lot) and H.M.S. Princess Irene. At the time there was much speculation that these losses were due to sabotage by enemy agents. However the more likely explanation is that they were the result of the deterioration of the stocks of high explosives carried on board. Sold with copied service papers.