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Auction: 8023 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Militaria
Lot: 367

The Mercantile Marine War Medal to Lieutenant A.B. Smith, Royal Naval Reserve, Captain of the SS Otaki, Who Was Awarded a Posthumous Victoria Cross For the Action With the Moewe, 10.3.1917, ´A Duel as Gallant as Naval History Can Relate´ Mercantile Marine War Medal (Archibald B. Smith), very fine Estimate £ 2,500-3,500 V.C. London Gazette 24.5.1919 Lieutenant Archibald Bisset Smith, R.N.R. ´´For most conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty when in command of the SS Otaki on the 10th March 1917. At about 2:30pm on the 10th March 1917 the SS Otaki whose armament consisted of one 4.7 inch gun for defensive purposes, sighted the disguised German raider Moewe which was armed with four 5.9 inch, one 4.1 inch, and two 22 pounder guns, and two torpedo tubes. The Moewe kept the Otaki under observation for some time and finally called upon her to stop. This Lieutenant Smith refused to do, and a duel ensued at ranges of 1900 to 2000 yards, and lasted for about 20 minutes. During this action the Otaki scored several hits on the Moewe, causing considerable damage, and starting a fire, which lasted for three days. She [the Otaki] sustained several casualties and received much damage herself, and was heavily on fire. Lieutenant Smith, therefore, gave orders for the boats to be lowered to allow the crew to be rescued. He remained on the ship himself and went down with the British Colours still flying, after what was described in an enemy account as "a duel as gallant as naval history can relate".´´ Lieutenant Archibald Bisset Smith, V.C., was born in Cosie Brae, Cults, Aberdeenshire, December 1878, and was educated at Robert Gordon´´s College, Aberdeen. He joined the Merchant Navy in 1895 and received his Master´s certificate in 1903 at the relatively young age of 25. His career was spent almost completely with the New Zealand Shipping Company, serving aboard the Waikato, Rakaia, Waimate, Huruni, and Turakina, before becoming Captain of the SS Otaki, a refrigerated cargo ship. Duel with the Moewe On the 10th March 1917, the 9,575 ton Otaki, with a crew of 72, was 350 miles west of the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean, en route from London to New York, when she encountered the German Raider Moewe. Ordered to stop and surrender, Captain Smith pressed full steam ahead, in an attempt to outrun the Raider, whilst simultaneously opening fire with the single 4.7 inch gun, killing 5 German crew and wounding another 10. Further shots did still more damage to the German ship, including scoring a direct hit on one of her coal bunkers, starting a fire that was to last for three days. Faced with this unusual show of defiance, the enemy brought his guns into action, and his far superior fire-power caused sufficient damage to the Otaki for her to roll over and sink. Captain Smith, together with five other members of the crew, went down with the ship; the surviving crew were taken Prisoner of War, and arrived in Bremerhaven, Germany, on the 22nd March. Over a two year period the Moewe had sunk or captured thirty five vessels. Smith later received an expression of Commendation from the King (London Gazette 17.11.1917) As a civilian serving in a Merchant Navy vessel owned by the New Zealand Shipping Company, and not in a Royal Navy ship, Smith was ineligible for the Victoria Cross. Naval Intelligence was concerned that military recognition of Smith´s defence of his ship would affect treatment of Prisoners of War, as well as British merchantmen in neutral ports. Smith´s widow waged a press campaign to put pressure on the government for ´´proper recognition of my husband´s heroic action.´´ A compromise was reached by which Smith was given a posthumous commission in the Royal Naval Reserve, and his V.C. was officially announced in May 1919. In 1920, the consolidating Royal Warrant for the Victoria Cross extended eligibility to ´´our Mercantile Marine whilst serving under Naval or Military Authority, or who in the course of their duties may become subject to enemy action´´ (London Gazette 18.6.1920). Lieutenant Smith´´s Victoria Cross was sold in 1951 to the New Zealand Shipping Company, and was put on display in the officers´´ dining room of the new Otaki until the ship was sold in 1975. The medal is now in the possession of the Peninsula & Oriental Steam Navigation Company, successor to the New Zealand Shipping Company, on display in the Chairman´´s Office in London. Lieutenant Smith is commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial, London. His is the only Mercantile Marine War Medal with this name.

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