The Bill and Angela Strong Medal Collection

An important Great War group of six awarded to Captain W. R. D. Irvine, Royal Naval Reserve, who was in command of the S.S. Laconia on the occasion of her loss to an enemy submarine off the Fastnet in February 1917 - a loss that hastened the United States’ declaration of war against Germany a few weeks later

1914-15 Star (Commr. W. R. D. Irvine, R.D., R.N.R.); British War Medal 1914-20 (Commr. W. R. D. Irvine, R.N.R.); Mercantile Marine War Medal 1914-18 (William R. D. Irvine); Victory Medal 1914-19 (Commr. W. R. D. Irvine, R.N.R.); Coronation 1911; Royal Naval Reserve Decoration, G.V.R., silver, silver-gilt, hallmarks for London, 1911, minor contact wear to the Coronation Medal, good very fine and better (6) £1200-1500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Bill and Angela Strong Medal Collection.

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William Robert Duncan Irvine, who was born in November 1863, passed out of the training ship Conway in 1882 and completed his first seagoing trip as an Apprentice aboard the British Antanador in 1884-85. Having then gained further experience with other shipping lines in voyages to the Far East and Australasia, he transferred to the Cunard Line in November 1895, in which capacity he served on the Liverpool-New York run, gaining steady advancement to Chief Officer in the Caronia in February 1905, and to Master of the Veria in September of the same year. Meanwhile, in common with other Mercantile Marine officers, he had been commissioned in the Royal Naval Reserve, gaining experience on assorted R.N. courses and advancement to Lieutenant in August 1899 and to Commander in July 1910.

By the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, Irvine was in command of the S.S. Laconia, his previous R.N.R. training being put to good use when the liner was shortly thereafter converted into an Armed Merchant Cruiser. Thus equipped, Laconia served in the South Atlantic and in the Indian Ocean, in addition being employed as a headquarters ship during the operations leading to the capture of Tanga in German East Africa. The in July 1916, she was returned to Cunard and resumed her usual cross-Atlantic voyages, work that led to her famous demise on 25 February 1917, when torpedoed by the U-50 some 160 miles N.W. by W. off the Fastnet - one torpedo having struck the liner at 10.33 p.m. on the starboard side just abaft the engine room, another found its mark in the engine room from point blank range about 30 minutes later, and she sank at 11.45 p.m.

The Laconia had 292 persons on board, comprising 34 First Class and 41 Second Class passengers, including women and children, in addition to Irvine and his crew, and of these 12 died, including Mrs. Mary Hoy and her daughter Elizabeth, from Chicago - the survivors had to pass several hours in open boats before being picked up by the sloop H.M.S. Laburnum.

Irvine’s accompanying typescript account of the sinking, written at the Midland Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool, adds much detail to events that fateful night, and he is quick to praise his officers and crew, and the passengers, for all ‘behaved splendidly ... I did not see a single case of panic and their departure from the ship was greatly due to the very prompt manner in which they carried out their boat drill, which we had fortunately had opportunities to practice a number of times on the voyage.’ He goes on to relate how he was one of 10 officers and crew who remained aboard after the first torpedo hit, and of their providential escape after the second torpedo smashed into the engine room 30 minutes later.

The accompanying carbon copy typescript also includes the following observations of an anonymous author - possibly his wife:

‘On arrival at the rescue ship, Will [Irvine] had all leave his life boat first, crawling up the rope ladder at the ship’s side or being hauled up as some were too exhausted to crawl up. Of course, as each one got out of the boat, it became lighter and was tossing around furiously when he was left alone. And as he was trying to hold on to the ladder, a wave washed over him and swept his boat away and left him clinging to the lowest rung of the rope ladder. The buffeting about was terrible and he could hardly hold on as he was so exhausted and his hands cut, and as they were trying to get the rope to him, they heard him say, “I can’t make it”. Several bluejackets threw off their coats to jump, but just then he made one supreme effort, grabbed the rope and wound it around his arm, and they hauled him up, and such a cheering he got. It all seems most providential.’

The death of the Hoys, as so vividly reported by one of the survivors, Floyd Gibbons of the Chicago Tribune, arguably acted as the final catalyst in bringing the U.S.A. into the War - indeed his account of the sinking, which includes mention of Irvine, was acclaimed as one of the outstanding newspaper reports of the conflict, and was read from the floor of both houses of Congress. Five weeks later, the U.S.A. declared war on Germany.

Irvine remained with Cunard for many years, commanding among other vessels the newly launched S.S. Laconia in the 1920s.

In November 2008, the story of the Laconia returned to the headlines when her wreck was located by Odyssey Marine Exploration, a commercial archaeology company based in Tampa, Florida, and in March 2009, following a dispute of ownership of the liner’s estimated £3 million cargo of bullion in the event of salvage, the matter went to the Courts.

Sold with a large quantity of original documentation, including training ship Conway leaving certificate, dated July 1884; Admiralty letters appointing the recipient to H.M.S. Revenge, dated 9 May 1898 and H.M.S. Cambridge, dated 1 November 1904, for training purposes; a Certificate for Twelve Months Training in the Royal Navy, with entries for the period 1898-99; his commission warrants for the rank of Sub. Lieutenant, R.N.R., dated 5 October 1894, Lieutenant, R.N.R., dated 23 August 1899, and Commander, R.N.R., dated 26 July 1910; a testimony of appreciation from Laconia’s passengers, dated 8 October 1913, with many signatures - ‘We, passengers on the Laconia, on the eve of the landing in Boston, desire to express to Captain W. R. D. Irvine our hearty appreciation of his fidelity to the important duties of his office under circumstances that must have taxed his endurance to an unusual degree’; Board of Trade authority to wear War Medals for the Mercantile Marine, confirming issuance in March 1926, and related forwarding letter for same; assorted family or other photographs (25 images), including several of the recipient in uniform, ‘Boat Drill at sea, Cunard S.S. Laconia, 1914’, and pictures of the S.S. Berencaria, another of his commands and aboard which he conveyed the Prince of Wales to America; a small photographic portrait of the recipient, in gold locket; a letter from the famous actor Harry Irvine, dated at New York City, 21 April 1940, and a signed portrait photograph of him, Irvine being distantly related; two scrapbooks, one with a mass of maritime related newspaper cuttings, the other with a wide variety of career ephemera; and assorted buttons and badges, including a lapel badge for the ‘Prince of Wales’ visit, 21 June 1932’.

‘Had a good look round the train, engine and first four trucks off the line, strangest thing about it is that we had two trucks of prisoners with us, about 60 in all, but not a bullet had touched their trucks, and the engine and trucks on either side were riddled with shot. Dug graves in morning and buried our dead, terrible sight, some of the poor fellows being hit no fewer than 5 times through the head ... ’ (a fellow officer’s diary refers).

Advanced to Major in September 1908, Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby was placed on half-pay in 1910, when he became Unionist M.P. for the Stamford Division. Recalled on the outbreak of hostilities, he joined the 1st Battalion out in France in December 1914, and remained actively employed there until returning to the U.K. in May 1915 (despatches London Gazette 18 June 1915), when he assumed command of the 8th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment, in time for its imminent embarkation for the Dardanelles and Gallipoli, where he served from June until December 1915.

Thereafter, Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby remained employed on the Home Establishment with an appointment in the Machine Gun Corps (Heavy) from late 1916 until the end of the War, and was again mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 24 May 1918 refers). He died in February 1950; sold with photocopied service record.