A Collection of Awards to Merchant Seamen and D.E.M.S. Gunners

A Second World War B.E.M. group of five awarded to Boatswain C. Grant, Merchant Navy, who was decorated - aged 62 years - for his gallant deeds on the occasion the S.S. Cornish City was torpedoed and sunk in July 1943

British Empire Medal, (Civil) G.VI.R., 1st issue (Christian Grant); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star; War Medal 1939-45, good very fine and better (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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B.E.M. London Gazette 14 March 1944:

‘The ship was torpedoed and sank in three minutes. Owing to the rapid sinking no boats could be lowered but Boatswain Grant released one raft and two others floated clear. Six of the crew managed to board the rafts. Later they were collected on one raft from which they were rescued the next day. Boatswain Grant displayed courage of the highest order and exceptional presence of mind. But for his prompt and cool action the loss of life would have been greater.’

Christian Grant was born at Peanau, Estonia, in November 1881, and was therefore in his 60s at the time of winning his B.E.M. On that occasion, his ship, the S.S. Cornish City, was torpedoed and sunk by the U-177, some 400 miles to the East of the southern tip of Madagascar, on 29 July 1943. The explosion caused by the impact of the torpedo broke the ship’s back and in a matter of seconds the bow reared up vertically before plunging below the waves - only six out of her full complement of 43 men managed to get away, largely thanks to Grant, who pulled three of them onto the raft that he had released in the final moments of the Cornish City’s death plunge. And this was the raft approached by the now surfaced U-177, whose captain asked Grant and his shipmates several pointed questions. He then assured them that he would send a radio message concerning their plight, before setting off in a WNW direction.

Later still, after some difficulties, the three rafts that escaped Cornish City were brought together, and the six survivors transferred to the best one. The following morning a Catalina flying boat sighted them and, at length, they were picked up by H.M.A.S. Nizam.

In addition to Grant’s B.E.M., the Assistant Engineer was awarded the King’s Commendation for Brave Conduct, a D.E.M.S. gunner a “mention”, and the Engineer Lloyd’s War Medal for Bravery at Sea - all of them posthumous distinctions; sold with a file of research, indicating service in the Mercantile Marine in the Great War, and copy 1939-45 campaign medal roll extract which suggests - surely erroneously - entitlement to a single 1939-45 Star.