Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria, to include the Brian Ritchie Collection (Part II)

Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 3rd issue, coinage head (J. 44959 J. G. Sarll, P.O., H.M.S. Cyclops) edge bruising and somewhat polished, about very fine £150-200

John Gordon Sarll was born at Cambridge in March 1900 and entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class in September 1915. His first seagoing appointment was in the cruiser H.M.S. Highflyer from April 1917 until March 1919, but in August 1921 he transferred to the submarine branch.

Sarll was still serving in submarines at the time of receiving his L.S. & G.C. Medal in March 1933 - having signed-on for a second period of engagement in that branch in October 1928 - and by the outbreak of hostilities he was a Chief Petty Officer (Torpedo Gunner’ Mate) in H.M. Submarine Sea Lion. He subsequently remained similarly employed until 1941, but was invalided in August 1942 and died on 25 February 1943, aged 42 years. Sarll is buried in Bishopstoke (St. Mary) Churchyard, Hampshire.

Soon after the advent of hostilities, Sea Lion commenced war patrols off the Scandinavian coast. One of her early victories was the S.S. August Leonhardt, torpedoed in the Kattegat on 11 April 1940, but, as described by Lieutenant-Commander P. K. Kemp in his history, H.M. Submarines, captain and crew were later subjected to serious depth-charge attack, the resultant damage nearly resulting in the loss of Sea Lion; for more immediate reference, see D.N.W. catalogue of Orders, Decorations and Medals, 4 July 2004 (Lot 847).

Yet the patrol had had its lighter moments, not least when Bryant had surfaced close inshore and spotted a ‘young blonde Norwegian girl doing her morning exercises by an open window’, oblivious, of course, to ‘the watching eyes of a British submarine commander through a periscope at six times magnification!’ (Submarine Victory by David A. Thomas refers); a very full account of Sea Lion’s 1940 activities maybe also be found in Up Periscope by David Masters.

Other than a D.S.C. for Sea Lion’s skipper, Lieutenant-Commander B. Bryant, R.N., which was gazetted in September 1940, no other awards were announced for his gallant crew until the New Year’s Honours List of 1941. This comprised two further D.S.Cs, two D.S.Ms and a brace of ‘mentions’, but, alas, no recognition for C.P.O. Sarll.