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Auction: 12002 - Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals & Militaria
Lot: 34

A Good Second War B.E.M. Group of Eight to Stoker Petty Officer A. Duff Stewart, Royal Navy, Who Attempted to Rescue the Crew of H.M.S. Cossack, After She Had Been Torpedoed off Gibraltar, October 1941 a) British Empire Medal, Military Division, G.VI.R. (S.P.O. Alfred D. Stewart. P/KX 84935, R.N.) b) 1939-1945 Star c) Atlantic Star d) Africa Star e) Italy Star f) Defence and War Medals g) Naval Long Service & G.C., G.VI.R. (KX.84935 A.D. Stewart. S.P.O. H.M.S. Fabius), letter ´a´ of ship on last double struck, generally very fine or better, mounted as originally worn, with a number of photographs of the recipient in uniform during various stages of his military career; Qualification Certificates, Original Parchment Certificate of Service and other ephemera, a quantity of which relates to H.M.S. Sheffield (lot) Estimate £ 350-450 B.E.M. London Gazette 3.3.1942 Stoker Petty Officer Alfred Duff Stewart, P/KX. 84935, H.M.S. Carnation ´For zeal, resource and devotion to duty when H.M.S. Cossack was sunk.´ The following details are taken from the original recommendation of Lieutenant Commander G.W. Houchen (Captain of H.M.S. Carnation): ´The following officers and men were among those who boarded H.M.S. Cossack at 0145 on 24 October 1941, when the ship was on fire and in imminent danger of sinking. They succeeded in putting out the fire. They subsequently boarded her at 0800 on 24th October after having been taken off at 0600, and worked incessantly until the end in an heroic endeavour to keep the ship afloat. Their efforts were beyond all praise. Those marked with an asterisk particularly distinguished themselves and are worthy of a decoration... *A. Stewart, Stoker Petty Officer, H.M.S. Carnation KX.84935 Stoker Petty Officer Alfred Duff Stewart, B.E.M., born Edinburgh, 1902; enlisted as Stoker Second Class, Royal Navy, January 1921; service during the Second World War included in H.M.S. Carnation (Corvette), February 1941-March 1943, during which time she went to the aide of H.M.S. Cossack (of Altmark Incident fame), when she had been struck by a torpedo fired from U-563, 23.10.1941; having been on convoy escort duty from Gibraltar to the United Kingdom she was taken in tow by a tug from Gibraltar on the 25th; but as the weather worsened and the tow was slipped the following day, the Cossack sank in the Atlantic west of Gibraltar on the 27th, despite the best efforts of Duff Stewart and the crew of the Carnation; 159 of her crew were lost; served at H.M.S. Fabius (Taranto), May 1944-December 1945 (L.S.&G.C. July 1945), and at H.M.S. St. Angelo (Trieste), January 1946-January 1947; served in H.M.S. Sheffield, December 1950-January 1953, being released from service in March of the same year. Provenance: Sotheby, July 1993

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