The Douglas-Morris Collection of Naval Medals

Four: Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R. (180131 W. Waterhouse, Act. C.P.O. Tanganyika Nl. Expn.); 1914-15 Star Trio (P.O./C.P.O. R.N.), together with the recipient’s original handwritten and unpublished Diary of this historic Naval Expedition, nearly extremely fine (5)

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Douglas-Morris Collection of Naval Medals.

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D.S.M. London Gazette 11 April 1916 “For services in connection with the Tanganyika Naval Expedition.”

William Waterhouse was the senior Rating chosen to accompany the Naval Expedition to Tanganyika. As Acting Chief Petty Officer he was one of the first to be let in on the remarkable plan to oust the German Naval presence from this great lake in East Africa. He was appointed as Chief Gunlayer and took part in the initial trials of H.M.S. MIMI on the river Thames in early June 1915. On this occasion Waterhouse was required to test the gun whilst travelling at full speed up the river. Having taken careful aim, he fired and the shell sped true to its mark, but at the same instant Waterhouse and the gun shot overboard in the opposite direction because the brass locking ring had not been properly secured. An inauspicious start maybe, but the Expedition was soon underway with the two Motor Boats H.M.S. MIMI and H.M.S. TOUTOU loaded aboard the LLANSTEPHAN CASTLE bound for Cape Town where they arrived on 2nd August.

To cover the three thousand miles or so that lay between Cape Town and the Lake, the boats had to be hauled by steam traction engines and ox trains over more than a hundred miles of extremely wild and difficult country, where there were no roads or communications of any kind. The whole journey, by barely navigable rivers and narrow-guage railways, through country where sleep-sickness and other horrible diseases were rife, is one of the strangest passages in the history of the Royal Navy. By 23 December the MIMI and TOUTOU had been successfully launched on the Lake, and three days later the first action was fought.

It was on Boxing Day, which also happened to be a Sunday, and during the usual Sunday church service, Commander Spicer Simpson received a message of the impending appearance of the German ship KINGANI. He merely placed the note in his pocket and continued with the service, the officers, who were facing the Lake, now able to see the approaching vessel. At last the service came to an end. Spicer Simpson held up a hand to indicate that the men were not to be dismissed, and took a long look at the approaching gunboat. Then he said, in a cool clear voice, “Chief Petty Officer Waterhouse! You may dismiss the divisions - and man the launches for immediate action!”

Spicer Simpson was in MIMI with C.P.O. Waterhouse at the gun and Tait at the wheel; Lieut Dudley commanded the TOUTOU with P.O. Flynn at the gun and Mollison at the wheel. In the action that followed, it is generally believed that it was Flynn in the TOUTOU that scored the fatal hits that resulted in the capture of the KINGANI, which was later renamed the FIFI. However, when Waterhouse ventured to say that perhaps TOUTOU had scored the final hit, Spicer Simpson replied, “Certainly not! Petty Officer Flynn couldn’t possibly have scored a hit without a qualified naval officer to spot for him and give him the ranges.” They all looked at Flynn, who commented dryly, “Brum Waterhouse can have all the hits, Sir. I am happy so long as none of them hit me.” Regardless of this trivial rivalry, it was an inescapable fact that KINGANI was the first German warship to be captured and transferred to the Royal Navy.

C.P.O. Waterhouse, who had received confirmation of his Rate during the journey to the Lake, and P.O. Murphy were the gunners in the action against the HEDWIG VON WISSMAN on 9 February 1916, but this time embarked with Spicer Simpson in the FIFI. Lieutenant Wainwright was given command of MIMI, and the two little ships, after a chase and running fight which lasted for three hours, were successful in sinking the HEDWIG VON WISSMAN. As Waterhouse recorded in his diary, “our first hit from the FIFI’s 12 pr exploded in the engine room, killing two & wounding one, all whites. Apparently after that all the whites that were left must have left the ship and left the ten blacks aboard; but we did not know and carried on firing till we seen someone waving a white flag. Then we ceased to fire but we had done our work very well, she was on fire and sinking fast. She went down head first and looked a pretty sight sinking. We signalled to MIMI to rescue the blacks, for it was only then that we caught sight of all the whites away to port, for they had left their ship one hour, or about that, before she sank and left the colours flying and the poor niggers to keep them flying (Brave Germans).”

It would have been satisfactory if the third and largest of the German ships could have been accounted for by the British Flotilla, but she did not risk an egagement. After being bombed by a Belgian aeroplane, she was scuttled by the Germans in Kigoma Harbour, on the eastern shore of the Lake. So ended Germany's command of Tanganyika. Apart from the material loss inflicted on the enemy, the success of the Naval Expedition did much to enhance British prestige among the natives, not only in the immediate neighbourhood of the Lake, but in the northern districts of Rhodesia and in adjacent German territory. In consequence of the success of this Expedition, I D.S.O., 3 D.S.C.'s and 12 D.S.M 's were awarded to the Officers and ratings. See also lot 648 for the D.S.C. group awarded to Lieutenant A. E. Wainwright.