WW1 BRITISH NAVY *KIA HMS FAUVETTE STRUCK MINES U-BOAT MEDAL TRIO

Original WW1 British Navy ‘Killed In Action’ trio group to Stoker 1st Class Charles Higgs, Royal Navy.

Medals include: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal – all named in impressed capitals with the following:

1914-15 Star – K.7429, C. HIGGS, STO. 1. R.N.

British War Medal and Victory Medal – K.7429. C. HIGGS. STO. 1. R.N.

Medals are display court mounted and come with Higgs’s copy service papers and paperwork, which shows he was killed on the 9th of March 1916 on H.M.S. Fauvette, when it struck a mine and quickly sank, killing 14 crew members (see list below). The two mines had been laid by German Submarine U-7 off North Foreland. Fauvette was a converted steamer which was requisitioned to become an armed auxiliary ship, used for troop & stores transport during the war. Her subsequent exploits included the bombardment of the Dardanelles, trooping to Suvla Bay and Helles, Salonica, Bulgaria and carrying refugee soldiers from Serbia to Corfu.

H.M.S. Fauvette

18 July 1912 launched by Sir Raylton Dixon & Co Ltd, Middlesbrough as Yard Nr 572 named FAUVETTE for General Steam Navigation Co Ltd, London

November 1912 completed as a passenger / cargo vessel, carrying 106 passengers in one class on her owners’ London – Bordeaux Service

22 December 1912 sailed London for Bordeaux

1914 at the beginning of WW1 she was lying at Bordeaux when War was declared and brought the British Colony there back to England. She was used as a Despatch Vessel at the behest of the French Govt while they remained at Bordeaux

17 December 1914 berthed at London from Bordeaux

February 1915 requisitioned by the Admiralty for service as a Stores Ship and took the Boom defence to the island of Mudros and laid it at the approaches to the harbour

19 March 1915 became an Armed Boarding Steamer as HMS FAUVETTE . Her subsequent exploits included the bombardment of the Dardanelles, trooping to Suvla Bay and Helles, Salonica, Bulgaria and carrying refugee soldiers from Serbia to Corfu

24 May 1915 secured alongside HMS Vengenance at Mudros

6 August 1915 the 6th & 7th Battalions Royal Dublin Fusiliers boarded HMS Fauvette and three other ships and departed for Suvla Bay in Gallipoli, arriving at 4am the following morning. They disembarked 7 Aug 1915,

1916 Lieutenant Commander J T Wilson RNR in command

9 March 1916 while on her way home from Girgenti to London, she struck two mines in quick succession which had been laid by UC 7 (Oberleutnant zur See Georg Haag) off North Foreland and sank in four minutes in position 51.24N 01.29E with the loss of fourteen lives. The wreck remained pointing North and upright on the seabed until after the First World War when it was blown up as it was classed as a maritime shipping hazard with the demolition of the wreck leaving a field of debris on the seabed.

Those lost were
ACKERMAN, Walter (real name, but served as Arthur W Ackerman), 2nd Cook, MMR,
BEALE, William, Ty/Sub Lieutenant, RNVR
BLACKWOOD, Thomas Anderson, Ty/Engineer Sub Lieutenant, RNR
COLBERN, Herbert George (real name, but served as Herbert G Elliott), Stoker 1c, SS 106810 (Po)
COSTA, George, Stoker 1c, K 9414 (Po)
HAYES, Richard, Assistant Steward, MMR, 516746
HIGGS, Charles, Stoker 1c, K 7429 (Ch)
LITTLER, Walter, Stoker, RNR, U 1410
MCNALLY, Andrew Francis, Stoker, RNR, S 4047
O’ DONNELL, Hugh, Fireman, MMR, 850508
O’ FARRELL, Patrick Joseph, Fireman, MMR, 791994
RAINER, Horace, Ty/Engineer Sub Lieutenant, RNR
ROBERTS, John, Fireman, MMR, 846153
SMITH, Walter, Yeoman of Signals, 230587 (Ch)
TRAINOR, John, Able Seaman (RFR B 2590), SS 374 (Dev)