McCarthy Medals

click for more images

NGS Bar Syria To a Royal Marine Sergt

NGS one bar Syria JAMES IZATT

James Izatt earned the Syria bar serving as a Sergt Royal Marines aboard HMS Revenge , He was married in 1834 to his wife Margaret in Dunfermline Scotland and in 1843 is listed as a Colour Sergt Royal Marines living in Woolwich Kent

n the 31st August, HMS Revenge joined the fleet off Beirut and Napier declared a blockade of both Syria and Egypt. In September 1840, Napier's force was joined by the rest of the British Mediterranean Fleet and on September 11th, HMS Revenge along with the rest of the fleet launched a bombardment of Beirut and landed Turkish soldiers and British Marines to drive Egyptian forces out of the city. On September 26th, the fleet bombarded Sidon and landed troops to take the city from the Egyptians.

Sidon was taken on the 28th September and on October 3rd, Beirut fell to the British and their allies. On the 26th September, in operations ashore in support of the troops, Mr William Price, Masters Mate and a Royal Marine of HMS Revenge were killed. The fleet was then ordered to proceed to the only port still held by the Egyptians, the city of Acre. The ship arrived off Acre on the 2nd November and at 14:00 the following day, the bombardment of the city began.

The naval fire was devastating. The British had opened a gunnery school in the years since the end of the wars with the French and the art of gunnery had advanced to the point where it was incredibly accurate compared with that of the French Wars. Although the Egyptian gunners on the fortifications returned fire, their guns were quickly silenced and at 16:20, a British shell entered a magazine and exploded killing 1,100 Egyptians. That night, the ships ceased firing and a combined force of allied and Turkish troops occupied the city. During the Bombardment of Acre, the British ships fired some 48,000 rounds. HMS Revenge had casualties of one seaman and one Royal Marine drummer killed with three seamen and one Royal Marine wounded. After the taking of Acre, Mohammed Ali Pasha's army in Syria collapsed, threatening to plunge Egypt itself into chaos. Commodore Napier was ordered to take his squadron including HMS Revenge to Alexandria and keep an eye on the situation. Napiers squadron arrived on 25th November and initiated a close blockade of the city.

The Second Ottoman Egyptian War was ended by the Convention of Alexandria, in which the Egyptians agreed to end the war, give up their claims to Syria and returned the Ottoman Fleet. In return, the allies agreed to guarantee the sovereignty of Egypt and evacuate the the remains of the Egyptian Army to Alexandria

Medal with ribbon brooch bar and generally in GVF condition

Code: 50502

Reserved

click for more images

Army LSGC To The RAMC, POW Hong Kong And Lisbon Maru Survivor

Army LSGC ( Geo VI ) 3051935 SJT G ALLAN RAMC

Sgt George Allan , originally a male nurse from Edinburgh was taken POW at the fall of Hong Kong on the 25th of December 1941, he was held at Shamshuipou camp until the 27th of September 1941 when he was taken on board the Lisbon Maru for transportation to Japan. On the 1st of October 1942 the Lisbon Maru was torpedoed by the USS Grouper six miles from Tung Fusham Island off the coast of China. He survived the sinking and was re-grouped with forty other survivors at shanghai but was found unfit for onward transport to Japan at that time. In June 1945 he was transported via Korea to the Hakodate camp in Japan. He was liberated on the 15th of September 1945

Lisbon Maru was a Japanese cargo liner built at Yokohama in 1920 for a Japanese shipping line. During World War II the ship became an armed troopship. On her final voyage Lisbon Maru was also transporting prisoners-of-war between Hong Kong and Japan when torpedoed on 1 October 1942, sinking with a loss of over 800 lives

On 1 October 1942 the Lisbon Maru was torpedoed by USS Grouper. The Japanese troops were evacuated from the ship but the POWs were not; instead the hatches were battened down above them and they were left on the listing ship. After 24 hours it became apparent that the ship was sinking and the POWs were able to break through the hatch covers. Some were able to escape from the ship before it sank. The ladder from one of the holds to the deck failed, and the Royal Artillery POWs in the hold could not escape; they were last heard singing "It's a Long Way to Tipperary". Survivors reported that Japanese guards first fired on the POWs who reached the deck; and that other Japanese ships used machine guns to fire at POWs who were in the water. Later, however, after some Chinese fishermen started rescuing survivors, the Japanese ships also rescued survivors.
The British government insisted that over 800 of these men died either directly as a result of the sinking, or were shot or otherwise killed by the Japanese while swimming away from the wreck. The ship was not marked to alert Allied forces to the nature of its passengers. However, over 1,000 Allied prisoners were rescued by the Japanese military. The Japanese Government insisted that British prisoners were in fact not deliberately killed by Japanese soldiers and criticised the British statement

Medal with original ribbon and in dark toned NEF condition

Code: 50468

Reserved

click for more images

1914/15 Trio And Navy LSGC , Commended For Services After Q Ship Sinking

1914/15 Trio 175194 T SIMS CPO RN , Navy LSGC ( EdVII ) 175194 THOMAS SIMS PO 1CL HMS CUMBERLAND

Thomas Sims from Hapleton joined the Royal Navy in 1896 aged 16, he served on numerous ships during his service and was commended for " good work performed on the occasion of the torpedoeing of the Q27 on the 13th of March 1917 and subsequently during the four days on which he was in charge of the starboard lifeboat of the ship in question "

HMS Warner was the Q Ship Q27

From a German newspaper report

The sinking of a British
''trap ship" . by a Geman U-boat ( U61) is de-.
scribed as follows by the Tamburg
"Nachrichten"

On a westward run from the coast,
in order to lie in wait-for the ships des- .
tined for England, one of our U-boats,,
towards 9 o'clock in the morning of a cold
March day sighted. a smallish steamer. of.
about 1500 tons approaching with an east
.ward course, which excited remark not
only by her high bridge and highs deck
erections, but also by the meaningless deviations
from her route .and her wild zig
zag course.. The submarine put the last
torpedo .into the tube for the attack, and
only now and again popped the conning
tower for a few moments above the surface
, in order not to betray itself to the
suspicious steamer, which was approaching
at about 12 knots. In spite of :the continual change of
course, it was possible to :get the enemy
within range, and the . torpedo : was
launched without being noticed. It had
scarcely penetrated with a powerful detonation
into the centre of the steamer when
she began to sink ,.and after a second explosion
in the boiler house she disappeared,
in less than three minutes.
The large number of. the crew standing
ion deck, who only succeeded, in spite
of the utmost exertions, in lowering one
boat to the water, seemed to confirm the
suspicion that this was a U-boat trap. In
order to ascertain if this was so the U Boat went up to the survivors, who
were drifting about on the water, and
fished out six men, who were clinging
half benumbed to planks. 'The men were
very well dressed and had a good military
carriage, to which one is not usually accustomed
in mercantile ships.
"According to their statements the
steamer was bound from Africa to England
After denying it for a long time,
they at last admitted that they belonged
to the navy. The sunk ship was, they
said, the U-boat trap Q27, H.M.S. Warner,
and the captain and all the officers had
perished in the boiler explosion.

Medals are loose and in NEF condition

Code: 50474

650.00 GBP

Shortlist item

NGS Bar Syria To a Royal Marine Sergt

Punjab Medal 2 bars To The 61st Foot

Ashanti Medal Bar Coomassie To The 23rd RWF Died

IGS To The Devon Regt, DOW In The Boer War

Air Crew Europe Star

WW2 Eff Medal Group Of 7 To An Officer In The Royal West Kents

Army LSGC To The RAMC, POW Hong Kong And Lisbon Maru Survivor

1914/15 Trio And Navy LSGC , Commended For Services After Q Ship Sinking

CSM Bar Radfan To a Major In The RE

MM and Bar Group To The 1st Sig Coy RE