Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Engine Room Artificer P. A. Watson, Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve, who was amongst the 36 officers and men lost at sea when H.M.C.S. Galiano sunk in a gale in Queen Charlotte Sound, 30 October 1918.

British War and Victory Medals (P. A. Watson E.R.A. 2. 2717 R.N.C.V.R.); Canadian Memorial Cross, G.V.R. (P. A. Watson E.R.A. V.R.2717) very fine, scarce (3) £200-£300

Phillip Alexander Watson was born in Penistone, Yorkshire. He emigrated to Canada around 1903, and served for 12 years with the Merchant Marine out of Victoria, British Columbia. Watson initially attested for the Canadian Army Service Corps, before requesting a transfer to the Overseas Division, Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve in September 1916. After a number of shore based postings, and service with H.M.S. Bacchante, Watson was finally posted to H.M.C.S. Galiano (a government fisheries patrol vessel pressed into service with the Royal Canadian Navy in 1917). The latter was employed on patrol duties on the west coast of Canada, and was lost in a gale in Queen Charlotte Sound, 30 October 1918.

Watson was amongst the 36 officers and men lost at sea, and is commemorated with them on the memorial at Ross Bay Cemetery, Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The Galiano was the only Canadian warship lost during the Great War.

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