Description
Distinguished Service Medal, GV, 2nd Hand William Thomas, HMS Supernal, a Hired Drifter.
A 2nd Hand is the equivalent of a Mate, and usually the most senior Seamen below the Officers on a Drifter, the only ones above them in ranking were the Skipper and sometimes a Lieutenant.
Officially impressed, the naming being so detailed it fills out the entire rim up to the claw:
“DA. 4484. W. Thomas. 2nd Hd. R.N.R. H.M.S. Supernal. Dardanelles. 20. Jan. 1918.”
Some minor official corrections to naming.
Award announced in the London Gazette, 13th September 1918, “For services in action with Goeben and Breslau in January 1918.”
His papers write “8th December 1918, Presented with DSM”.
He was also commended for his services in the grounding of Trawler King Arthur.
Papers write: “Commended for Good Service rendered on the occasion of grounding of Hired Trawler King Arthur on 1st December 1917.”
On this day Hired Trawler King Arthur ran aground at Kephalo Point, which was a promontory on the island of Imbros.
This was the sole DSM awarded to the RNR for the “Action off Imbros with the Goeben and Breslau”.
The 2 Captains aka “Skippers” of the 2 Hired Drivers, HMS Supernal and HMS Anchor of Hope II were both decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross for this action, with the following joint citation:
“Remained on patrol in their drifters during the action and made smoke screen in a gallant endeavour to screen H.M. Monitors ‘Raglan’ and “M28’ showing great presence of mind and initiative. Both vessels were invaluable in rescuing survivors.
Amongst the awards for the Action was 2 DSOs, 10 DSCs, 9 DSM’s and 10 Mentions in Despatches.
Notably all the Distinguished Service Medals were awarded to Royal Navy men, with this award being the sole award to the Royal Naval Reserve.
The RNR would receive 3 DSCs and 1 DSM for this action out of these awards.
A detailed article on the battle can be read here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Imbros
In brief: On 20th January 1918, the Ottoman Squadron, comprising the Battlecruiser Yavûz Sultân Selîm (formerly German Goeben) and the light cruiser Midilli (aka Breslau) sortied from the Dardanelles to attack the British Navy who were sheltering at Imbros (aka Gokceada) in the Aegean Sea.
The British were vastly unprepared for this type of engagement, the station only had 2 Monitors, HMS Raglan with 2 14-Inch Guns and HMS M28 with 1 9.2inch Gun, as well as the 2 Destroyers, HMS Lizard and HMS Tigress, who were tasked with protecting the monitors.
The attack was launched by the Ottomans at Dawn about 5:30am, HMS Lizard, the Destroyer, detected these approaching ships, but was unable to get close to launch torpedoes due to the incoming heavy fire.
The Monitors were not built for such a fight, and fell with ease to the Ottoman cruisers, HMS Raglan was hit leaving its main armament disabled, and then its magazine exploded, causing her to sink rapidly.
HMS M28 met a similar fate, it was struck and set ablaze, also suffering a catastrophic magazine explosion and was sunk by 6 am.
The victorious Ottoman’s withdrew only to find themselves in the middle of a minefield. During this the Midilli (Breslau) was struck with multiple mines and sank.
Meanwhile the Yavuz Sultan Selim (Goeben) was left heavily damaged and forces to beach herself in the Dardanelles, which led the Royal Naval Air Service to launch a number of aerial attacks on the ship, it was lucky to survive and be towed to safety after several days.
As the Monitors were set upon by a superior force, the British fleet had 2 tiny Drifters, HMS Supernal and HMS Anchor of Hope II, who did everything they could, risking joining the Monitors at the bottom of the sea, they launched smoke screens to attempt to save them, and in the aftermath were invaluable in rescuing the survivors from the sunken ships.
William Thomas was born in the village of Cullen, by the sea in Moray, Banffshire, on 7th June 1887.
The son of Edwin and Anne Thomas.
William signed on with the Royal Naval Reserve on 1st March 1915.
He was 5 Foot 11 and had “Eagle and Snake” tattoos on his right forearm.
During the war he served as 2nd Hand on a number of ships.
On 27th April 1916, he was discharged from the Mary Reid, joining the Colleen.
Joined Hired Drifter Wests (Thalia) from the Dreel Castle, 18th July 1916.
Joined Dreel Castle on 18th July 1916.
Then discharged from the Dreel Castle on 27th November 1916.
After taking part in the Action off Imbros, he was discharged from Osiris II, on 31st march 1918, followed by Valhalla II on 1st August 1918, then Europa, on 31st December 1918, lastly searching on the Research being finally demobilised after the end of the from that ship on 12th June 1919.
