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Lot 805
A fine Second World War Kings Commendation for Brave Conduct group of four awarded to Chief Officer G. E. Gourlay, Merchant Navy, who was cited for his courage on the occasion of the torpedoing of the S.S. Fort Bellingham during Arctic convoy J.W. 56A in January 1944 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Pacific Star, clasp, Burma; War Medal 1939-45; Kings Commendation for Brave Conduct oval plastic badges (2), in their card box of issue with related oak leaves (2), and accompanied by their original registered forwarding envelope addressed to G. E. Gourlay, Esq., "Vistersatter", Glencairn, Stevenston, Ayrshire, extremely fine (8) £300-350 Gustaf Erik Gourlay was born in Stevenston, Ayrshire in August 1909 and qualified for his 2nd Mates Certificate (Steamships) at Glasgow in September 1929. Having then added to his qualifications a 1st Mates Certificate in December 1930, and a Masters Certificate in June 1934, he was serving in the S.S. Baron Vernon on the outbreak of hostilities. Several more ship appointments followed until, in June 1943, he joined as Chief Officer the recently launched Fort Bellingham, and he was similarly employed in that vessel when she was ordered to join Arctic convoy J.W. 56A in January 1944. Carrying a crew of 75 men, including the convoys Commodore and six of his staff, in addition to 12 Naval and 11 Army D.E.M.S. Gunners, the Fort Bellingham appears to have been torpedoed by two U-Boats on the night of the 25th-26th, namely the U-360, Kapitain Klaus Becker, and the U-957, Kapitain Gerd Schaar, several accounts stating that she survived the first attack but had to be abandoned as a result of the latter, and was finished off by torpedoes delivered by the escorting destroyer H.M.S. Offa. Kenneth Wynns U-Boat Operations of the Second World War states that the U-957 picked up two survivors, their subsequent interrogation providing valuable information, while the official Admiralty report into the Fort Bellinghams loss lists 39 missing crew, among them 16 Gunners and two members of the Commodores staff. What the same report fails to clarify (i.e. the ships Masters account of the proceedings that night), is that there were indeed two separate attacks, a strange omission in an already controversial report that openly criticised the action of the convoys Commodore and his D.E.M.S. Gunners (see below). That the Fort Bellingham was indeed attacked twice over several hours seems in no doubt, a witness aboard the destroyer Offa, Lieutenant G. G. Connell, D.S.C., describing in his wartime memoir, Arctic Destroyers, The 17th Flotilla, the gallant efforts of a medical officer, Surgeon Lieutenant M. J. Hood, D.S.C., who boarded the damaged merchantman after the U-360s attack, and then perished as a result of U-957s subsequent attack. Be that as it may, Fort Bellinghams Master, Captain J. N. Maley, described just one torpedo strike soon after midnight: No one saw the track of the torpedo, which struck on the port side, in the after end of No. 3 hold, forward of the engine room. There was a dull explosion and a fair amount of water thrown up on the port side. No flash was seen. The ship rolled to starboard, then to port, but quickly righted herself, settling bodily. The engine room bulkhead was pierced, both boilers collapsed and the main steam pipes fractured. A spray of oil and steam was thrown up high into the air, which obscured the view from the bridge. The engines and dynamos stopped immediately and all lights went out. Ventilators were blown off, some of which landed on the after deck. Nos. 2 and 4 lifeboats were destroyed. The decks did not apppear to be torn or buckled. Although the ship settled several feet, she seemed to be in no immediate danger of sinking. He continues: I sent the Chief [Gourlay] and Second Officers to the boat deck to clear away the boats. They found No. 1 boat hanging by the after fall and submerged. Apparently this boat had been lowered by the D.E.M.S. ratings, assisted by a number of seamen and engineers. When this boat capsized they went to No. 3 lifeboat, lowered it, cast off, and drifted astern ... I had given no orders to abandon ship, so obviously these men panicked. They were under the impression that the cargo contained ammunition, and feared a second torpedo ... Further acts of indiscipline followed: The Chief Officer [Gourlay] went round the decks and reported that all rafts, except one on the port side of the lower bridge and one in the after rigging, had been slipped and were floating astern ... I gathered the remaining men together, around 35 in all, and finally freed the raft from the lower bridge, giving instructions that it was to remain alongside, but as it became waterborne about 18 men jumped into it, cut the painter, and it quickly drifted from the ships side. The Chief Officer then took a party of men and endeavoured to release the raft from the after-rigging ... as the raft on the port side was proving difficult to free, the Chief and Second Officers went over the side to the waterlogged lifeboat in an attempt to make it serviceable. They were soon soaked in cold water and covered in fuel oil ... The Royal Navy then appeared on the scene: H.M.S. Offa tried to come alongside, but owing to the heavy swell, her bows crashed against my ship. At this moment, the Commodore jumped on board the Offa, followed by his Yeoman of Signals and Telegraphist. All got aboard successfully. The Commodore had not told me that he intended to make the atttempt, but went off without saying a word. The destroyer then stood off and picked up the survivors from the raft, also the Chief [Gourlay] and Second Officers from the waterlogged lifeboat, which was still alongside. The Second Officer was immediately taken to the sick bay suffering from the effects of fuel oil. At about 0230 H.M.S. Offa lowered her whaler, which came alongside the Fort Bellingham and took off all those on board. As the ship showed no signs of sinking the commander of H.M.S. Offa decided to sink her by torpedo and gunfire ... Maley had praise for just one member of his crew, namely his Chief Officer, Gustaf Gourlay: I would like to mention Chief Officer Gourlay, who displayed fine leadership and organisation. After this officer had made a thorough search for survivors, he gallantly went overboard into the fuel-covered water to clear the waterlogged lifeboat. He was awarded the Kings Commendation for Brave Conduct, the relevant London Gazette of 12 June 1945 listing him as Chief Officer of the Samvigna; an Apprentice aboard the same ship was similarly commended for bravery when an aircraft crashed in the London Gazette of 10 April 1945, but Gourlay had already moved on to his final wartime appointment, the Fort Frontenac, back in late 1944, so it seems more likely his own Commendation did indeed stem from the events of J.W. 56A.
Lot 475
Family group: Queens South Africa 1899-1902, 4 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, South Africa 1900 (Sergt. A. Burt, Langman Hospital), date on last clasp (to which the recipient was not entitled) privately altered to 1900, rank re-engraved and otherwise officially re-impressed, polished, nearly very fine Four: Acting Staff Sergeant W. H. Burt, Army Service Corps, late Langman Hospital Queens South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal (Corpl. W. Burt, Langman Hospital); 1914-15 Star (S4-091005 Pte. W. H. Burt, A.S.C.); British War and Victory Medals (S4-091005 A.-S.-Sjt. W. H. Burt, A.S.C.), the first with officially re-impressed naming, generally very fine and rare (5) £400-500 Established by Mr. John Langman, this private hospital opened its tented wards for the first time in April 1900, on the cricket ground at Bloemfontein, where, a few days later, it was inspected by Lord Roberts, V.C., who said of it in a telegram to Langman back in London, that its value to our R.A.M.C. and wounded cannot be overestimated. Indeed, under the efficient command of Langmans son, Archibald, actually a Lieutenant in the Middlesex Yeomanry, the hospital eventually treated 1211 cases, latterly at a new location in Pretoria. Of these patients, 278 returned to duty, 875 were transferred to other hospitals and 58 died. Among the handful of Surgeons employed on the 45-strong staff, 18 of whom were from the St. John Ambulance Brigade, was Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle, M.D., he of Sherlock Holmes fame, who had, from the outset, been invited by John Langman to assist in the selection of suitable personnel - it is not without interest therefore that Corporal Weston Burt was, like Conan Doyle, a resident of Southsea, a fact that suggests they may well have been local friends. Be that as it may, both men would certainly have shared in the horrific scenes caused by ever-growing numbers of enteric victims, the famous author being compelled to write: Our hospital was no worse off than the others, and as there were many of them the general condition of the town [Bloemfontein] was very bad. Coffins were out of the question, and the men were lowered in their brown blankets into shallow graves at the average of sixty a day. A sickening smell came from the stricken town. Once when I had ridden out to get an hour or two of change, and was at least six miles from the town, the wind changed and the smell was all around me. You could smell Bloemfontein long before you could see it. Even now if I felt that lowly death smell compounded of disease and disinfectants my heart would sink within me. The Hospital was eventually given as a free gift by John Langman to the Government in November 1900, complete with all its equipment, tentage and supplies - he was created a Baronet in 1906, while his son, Archibald, received prompter reward by way of a C.M.G. in 1902. Conan Doyle, too, was among the ex-Langman staff honoured, receiving a knighthood, although he later claimed this was in response to the publication of his pamphlet, The War in South Africa: Its Cause and Conduct. Sold with an original printed letter, and an old copy thereof, from John Langman, forwarding Corporal Weston Burts Queens South Africa Medal, dated 14 November 1901, and addressed to him at 77 Castle Road, Southsea (I greatly appreciated all the good work you did in the Hospital and would have liked to have been able to tell you so personally if a presentation could have been arranged ... ); together with original portrait photographs of both brothers, the one of Weston Burt by Barkshire Brothers of 233 Albert Road, Southsea, further evidence of a direct link with Conan Doyle.
Lot 305
*Shaw (George Bernard, 1856-1950). Two autograph letters signed, 'G. Bernard Shaw' and 'GBS', both 4 Whitehall Court, London, SW1, 17th April 1932 & 28th February 1939, both to G.R. (the publisher Grant Richards), the first saying "My answer, which can hardly be unexpected, is a hollow laugh, I must not throw any more into the sea. The bank would do it if there were any reasonable chance. The shipwreck is universal; and if I take any more on my plank it may sink. Saying NO has become almost a reflex with me, no I have not acquired the savage enjoyment of it that will, I suppose, come some day", the second, "Sorry. What with widows and Jews I am in a corner in which I must roar NO ruthlessly to every further appeal. Let the whole human race perish if it must: not another pound will I part with until I am solvent again. I have actually had to borrow money. You cannot afford an operation, fortunately for you", both 1 p., oblong 8vo, the earlier with orig. postmarked envelope, together with a quantity of other Grant Richards' related correspondence, copy letters, etc., including two autograph letters signed from the artist Augustus John, one from Laurence Housman, one from A. E. Housman, etc. (a carton)
Lot 1
* Ponting (Herbert George, 1871-1935). "Vida"/"Osman", c. 1911, two gelatin silver print portraits of two of the pack dogs used by Captain Scott on his last South Pole expedition, 1910-13, 450 x 320 mm & 485 x 320 mm, each titled and signed in ink by H. G. Ponting on mounts beneath, framed and glazed (the frames non-uniform), together with a reprint edition of Ponting's The Great White South (1923), b&w plts. from photos, cut signature of Ponting (small closed tear) pasted to title verso, orig. cloth, rubbed, 8vo The photographs were formerly the property of Mrs Violet M. Ponting; see Christie's London (25th September 2001), lot 180. The two photographs were reproduced in Ponting's book opposite page 179. "Osman was the head dog of the pack; and, unlike many of his subordinates - some of which would snarl at everyone except their drivers, who were ready to sink their teeth in anyone they took a dislike to - he was gentle and good natured. Osman was the dog that had been washed overboard in the gale in the Sixties, and saved by one of the seaman when carried aboard again on the crest of the next wave. He had been the fiercest dog of all, when in New Zealand; but that adventure seemed to have a sobering effect on him. Henceforth he regarded us all as friends. He was now a sociable, docile animal, and exhibited obvious pleasure when anyone exchanged a few friendly words with him. With his massive build and magnificent head, he looked every inch the chief he was; and his great strength and wonderful reasoning powers qualified him for the most important part he took in our adventure. Vida, the leader of the second team, was another superb dog, with a head suggestive of a parentage of Chow and the St. Bernard. He was equally as strong as Osman, but, though as fine of appearance, he had none of Osman's amiable characteristics; he distrusted everyone, except those with whom he was brought into constant contact. Vida was a proud, and condescending creature, seemingly fully conscious of his own strength and fitness for his work; and conscious, too, of his ability to hold his own in combat with any of his associates", pp. 179-80. (3)
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