Orders, Decorations and Medals

The Great War D.S.M. group of five awarded to Chief Petty Officer W. C. R. Griffin, Royal Navy, one of a handful of survivors from the destroyer Shark following her loss at Jutland: tales of that ship’s heroic point blank “last stand” filled the front pages of national press long before the deeds of “Boy Cornwall” were generally known - and her skipper, Loftus Jones, whose shattered leg was dressed by Griffin, was awarded a posthumous V.C.

Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R. (201404 W. C. R. Griffin, P.O., H.M.S. Shark, 31 May - 1 June 1916); 1914-15 Star (201404 W. C. R. Griffin, P.O., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (201404 W. C. R. Griffin, P.O., R.N.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 1st issue (201404 W. C. R. Griffin, P.O., H.M.S. Hecla), mounted as worn, minor official corrections to surname on the first, and ship’s name on the last, contact marks and polished, thus nearly very fine (5) £5000-6000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Exceptional Naval and Polar Awards from the Collection of RC Witte.

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D.S.M. London Gazette 15 September 1916:
‘For services rendered by Petty Officers and Men of the Grand Fleet in the action in the North Sea on 31 May-1 June 1916.’

A further announcement appeared in the London Gazette of 6 March 1917, listing six D.S.Ms ‘to the survivors of H.M.S. Shark for their services during the Battle of Jutland’, among them recipient, but with an accompanying note: ‘The award to Petty Officer Griffin has already been gazetted).’

William Charles Richard Griffin was born in Portsmouth in May 1883 and entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class in October 1898. By the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, he was serving as a Petty Officer in the cruiser Edgar, but he came ashore at the end of the year to take up an appointment in Vernon. In mid-May 1916, however, he joined the destroyer Shark as a Torpedo Coxswain, and it was in this capacity that he was present in that ship’s memorable “last stand” at Jutland a week or two later. Of that action, in his report as the senior survivor of his ship - a report that was included in the official Jutland despatches - Griffin wrote:
‘I, William Griffin, Torpedo Coxswain, will endeavour to give you the information to the best of my knowledge of the action and sinking of H.M.S. Shark. We were in company with the battlecruisers Invincible & c., also four destroyers (including the Shark): during the day 31 May we were told by the captain that we would probably meet the enemy. During the afternoon, about 3 o’clock, I should say, the report of the enemy sighted was received, which was in great number, and action stations was rung on the alarm bell. We then proceeded at a speed of 25 knots. The signal was made to open fire, at which we altered course to port, the course being N.E., the starboard guns being used. Again we altered course to port, the course being N., and it was then that our steering was hit. I reported steering gear gone, sir, at which the captain gave orders to me to man the after wheel. It was then that I got wounded in the head and over the right eye. We then went to starboard making use of our guns on the port side, and this was when the forecastle’s gun crew were completely blown away, gun and all; about this time Acasta arrived, and the captain of Acasta asked if he could assist us, and the captain replied don’t get sunk over us, we then with our steering gear and engines out of action. She was helpless and with only one gun firing which was the midship gun, and the captain came off the bridge and spotted for the midship gun. During that time he gave me orders for the boats and rafts to be lowered and got out, but the boats were useless, and he also gave orders for the collision mat to be got out, which was done; all this time the enemy’s light cruisers and destroyers were constantly shelling us; several of the enemy destroyers came very close to us in line formation, the range being only about 600 yards, and we were firing our only gun, by this time the gun’s crew consisting of three men, Midshipman T. Smith, R.N.R., J. Howell, A.B., Gunlayer H., and C. Hope, A.B. The captain was then wounded slightly in the leg, but he managed to control the gun, myself remaining there for orders from the captain. I must say that during the first part of the action the foremost and after torpedo were fired, and the spare torpedo was just hoisted up in line with the tube when a shell hit the air chamber and exploded. We were about half an hour in action when our engines stopped. She was battered about by shell and began to settle down at the bows. At this time the Gunlayer, J. Howell, A.B., was wounded in the leg, and it was about a minute afterwards that the captain had his leg shot away, the shell not exploding. C. Hope, A.B., left the gun and assisted the captain, doing what he could to it. It was about five minutes afterwards that the ship sunk. The captain gave orders to save ourselves, the two rafts were filled up (the third raft could not be got out owing to shellfire), and as time went on the men began to gradually die away with exposure, the water being very cold. While we were in the water we saw a number of our ships and destroyers pass us at full speed, chasing the enemy. At 10 o’clock we were picked up by the Danish steamer S.S. Vidar, bound for Hull. There were seven of us, one of whom, Chief Stoker Newcombe, died on board. Nearly everyone on board wore lifebelts or lifesaving collars, which proved a great success, and the rafts were also of great service to us, carrying about twelve. This is the best account I can give.’

It was largely on the basis of this report, and the subsequent accounts gleaned from Shark’s remaining survivors on the recommendation of a fellow flotilla officer, Captain E. O. Gladstone, and, indeed, Loftus Jones’ widow, that at length, Admiral Beatty recommended a posthumous award of the V.C. - ‘No finer act has been produced in the annals of His Majesty’s Navy’. The award was announced on 6 March 1917, alongside the above noted D.S.Ms.

A far more lively account of Shark’s action was later published by Griffin in the Sunday Graphic and Sunday News in June 1935, from which the following extracts have been taken:

‘From our flagship came the signal “Open Fire.” I was, of course, at my post at the wheel. Also on the bridge was Commander Loftus Jones, the look-out and two Telegraphists ... Suddenly a terrific fulmination rent the air and the first salvo from the German guns whined overhead. It fell short. Water spouts and fountains of spray leapt upwards. The sea around us was lashed into a white fury. Our own gunners aboard the Shark replied with a well-directed salvo that hit one of the destroyers. Again the Germans fired.

Next moment the Shark quivered from stem to stern. She had been hit. Commander Jones leaned over the bridge rails. He reported the foremost gun had gone, its crew with it. Every man had perished. A few seconds later another salvo tore over, wretching the wheel from my hands and taking away the telegraph above us. Shrapnel spattered all around. Commander Jones staggered backwards with an intake of breath. He had been wounded in the leg. It was then that I became conscious that I, too, had received a wound. There was blood dripping from my right hand. Commander Jones gave the order for the after-wheel to be manned and we all scrambled down the ladder to reach the new steering position. It was now that he threw the confidential books and papers overboard.

On all sides there was chaos. Dead and dying lay everywhere around. The decks were a shambles. Great fragments of the ship’s structure were strewn everywhere ... salvo after salvo was coming over. I had just reached the foremost funnel when I was thrown to the deck. I lost consciousness. How long I lay there I have no idea, but when I came to the battle had subsided ... Captain John Barron in the Acasta, seeing our plight, had been alongside and offered assistance. But our commander had just hailed back, “Don’t get sunk for us!”

I managed to crawl along to the midship gun, where I found Commander Jones with the gun crew. He was urging everybody to leave the ship, which was beginning to sink. But it was impossible to launch the boats. They had been shot to splinters. The lifesaving floats and collision mats were got out. It was about this time the Invincible was lost ... It was shortly after the tragedy of the Invincible that two enemy destroyers adrift from their squadron came across us and renewed the battle. It was an attack of far greater intensity than the first.

The enemy ships were extremely close. I don’t think they could have been more than 600 yards away. From this position they poured salvo after salvo into us. When the renewed firing first started Commander Jones sprang to the midship gun - the only gun on the ship that was still in action. He controlled the fire himself. He sent shell after shell over to the Germans. But one by one his crew were hit until all but three lay prone on the deck.

Smith, Hope and Howell, the survivors, were alongside the captain when a shell which failed to explode tore through the air, severing his leg above the knee. Hope left the gun and carried him aft, aided by myself, where we did our best to bandage his dreadful wound while the shells continued to scream overhead ... Another dreadful shattering blow again hit the Shark. One of the enemy destroyers had fired a torpedo which had struck us abreast of the after funnel. We began to heel over.

Commander Jones ordered us to save ourselves. But we could not leave him. By now the floats were all launched and men were clambering into them. Our captain was assisted into one. Some clambered on to ammunition boxes. A few minutes later the Shark went down, her ensign still flying ... I had caught a glimpse of Commander Jones on one of the rafts just before the Shark went to the bottom. He was with eight or nine of his men. We waved. It was the last I saw of him ...’

Following Jutland, Griffin returned to Vernon and was advanced to Chief Petty Officer in April 1919. Having then served in the destroyer Westminster in the Baltic 1919, and been present at the bombardment of the Bolshevik forts on the Estonian coast, he was pensioned ashore in May 1923. He was awarded his L.S. & G.C. Medal in June 1916, a few days after Jutland.