Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Five: Chief Officer P. A. N. Port, Merchant Navy

British War and Mercantile Marine War Medals 1914-18 (Philip A. N. Port); Royal Humane Society, small bronze medal (successful) (P. Port, 20th Dec. 1922), in its fitted Elkington & Co. case of issue; Shipping Federation Meritorious Service Medal, the lower reverse officially inscribed to ‘Philip A. N. Port, 20th December 1922’, in its fitted case of issue; Marine Society Reward of Merit, silver, the reverse officially inscribed to ‘Philip A. Port, 22 April 1918’, extremely fine (5)
£300-350

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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Philip Alfred Norman Port was born in Reigate in March 1894. Of his subsequent career at sea - both before, and during the Great War - he was invited to submit an account to the Marine Magazine, which was duly published in 1918:

‘When bringing the necessary documents to the Marine Society's Office today, in regard to the Sextant presented to me by the Marine Society, I was asked to write about my sea life since leaving the Warspite. This I most willingly do, as under:

I joined the Warspite on 19 April 1909, and from then till 9 April 1910, spent some of the happiest days of my life under the charge of Commander Montanaro, who was Captain-Superintendent at that time. My father being a Master Mariner, knew that I wanted to be a "real sailor," and wisely secured for me a deck boy's berth on the three-masted barque Formosa, bound from London to San Pedro, California. This, my first voyage, lasted nineteen months. From San Pedro we went to New South Wales, thence to Chile, and then to Callao, Peru, where we loaded for Antwerp.

The ship was sold when at Antwerp, so home I came for a few days. I then joined a small steamer at the wharf astern of the Warspite, off Greenhithe. I sailed the night eight weeks in that ship and spent Christmas (1912) at home. Since then I have had voyages to Durban; a voyage in the cable ship Faraday, repairing a cable in the Atlantic; a trip to the White Sea, then to Egypt, India, Persian Gulf, and West Indies.

When war broke out I was a Quarter Master in an oil tanker. Upon arrival at Purfleet the Government chartered the ship and I had to leave. I only wanted a few more weeks of sea service to be able to sit for my Second Mate's examination, so, of course, I had to join another ship, as I thought, for a short voyage. But that voyage extended to Egypt, Cuba, and the Clyde. Whilst homeward bound, off Queenstown, where we had to call for orders, we just missed a torpedo. Two days later we sailed again, bound for Greenock. The day we sailed was the day the Lusitania met her terrible fate, only an hour before we left; but luck evidently was with us for we reached the Clyde safe and sound. From there we went to the Dardanelles and America, and then I finally got back to England with plenty of time for the examination. So I sat for Second Mate and passed. Since then I have been chiefly in the Transport Service across the Channel, but I have also been to Egypt. Last Christmas I presented myself for a Mate's ticket, and succeeded in passing the examination.

I would like to add that the last voyage I made before securing my Mate's certificate I sighted a submarine and was rewarded with the sum of £20; but on my next voyage, after having passed for Mate, I was torpedoed. Such are the "ups and downs" of my sea experience since leaving the old Warspite, which, I am sorry to hear, has finished her career in flames.’

Monetary rewards aside, Port was shortly to add a brace of awards to his earlier accolades, for, having joined the coastal tanker Scandinavia as Chief Officer, he volunteered to swim ashore with a line when she was wrecked on Portland breakwater on in December 1922. In his own words, as per the Marine Magazine of November 1923:

‘I was in her December last, on a voyage from London to Manchester with an oil cargo, when we encountered very bad weather all the way from Dover to Portland, and we unfortunately piled her up on Portland breakwater, where she became a total wreck. Such weather as was then raging I have never seen before in the Channel, and it took complete control of the little vessel. When she struck, seeing that no boat could live in such a sea, I volunteered to swim to the breakwater with a rope, which I did assisted by the Chief Engineer.

I wish to state here that when I joined the old Warspite I could not swim a stroke, but the late Mr. Rogers took me in hand and soon made a swimmer of me. Many times have I thanked those instructions I received from him, but never so much as on that early morning of 21 December 1922 off Portland, when all hands (twelve) were saved by means of the rope I took ashore. After a day or so at Portland, we were sent home - just in time for the Christmas.

The British Tanker Company have treated my very well since the loss of the Scandinavia in making me a handsome reward, and placing my action before the Royal Humane Society, who, I am proud to say, have presented me with their handsome Bronze Medal and Certificate. I am still in the Company's employ, serving as Second Officer for twelve months in the Persian Gulf, where, as no doubt you will agree, another cold bathe like I had at Portland would be absolutely glorious.’

In addition, he was awarded the Shipping Federation Meritorious Medal.

Port remained in the employ of the British Tanker Company up until the mid-1930s, and died in November 1960; sold with original British Tanker Company letters regarding his Royal Humane Society award, and Marine Magazine features, together with an extensive file of research.