Orders, Decorations and Medals

A fine ‘Pedestal’ D.S.C. group of five awarded to Chief Engineer A. R. Nicol, Merchant Navy, M.V. Brisbane Star, which succeeded in reaching Malta with her precious cargo despite severe torpedo damage

Distinguished Service Cross, G.VI.R., the reverse officially dated ‘1942’; 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star; War Medal, together with original Admiralty letter giving details of his Investiture at Buckingham Palace, named Admiralty Invitation to same, and two tickets of admission to the Inverstiture, extremely fine (5) £900-1200

D.S.C. London Gazette 10 November 1942: ‘For services during Operation Pedestal when the ship was torpedoed and damaged, but reached Malta on 14th August 1942.’

Allen Ramsey Nicol, a hardy Scot from the Isle of Aran, was Chief Engineer of the Blue Star Line cargo liner Brisbane Star, one of two Blue Star vessels selected for Operation ‘Pedestal’, the most crucial of the Malta convoys. Just after the sun had gone down on the 12th August the convoy came under a concerted low level torpedo attack by some 20 Ju-88s. One torpedo blew a great hole in the bows of Brisbane Star and the merchantman, out of control, careered across the path of the convoy. To avoid being rammed, Empire Hope stopped her engines, and, while in this position, three dive-bombers delivered an attack on her. A direct hit on her cargo of aviation fuel enveloped the ship in an inferno of flameS. With blazing petrol spreading swiftly over the sea, the crew abandoned ship. From Brisbane Star they could hear the screams of badly-burnt men as the boats pulled away. the convoy was now scattered over an area of twenty miles and had lost the protection of two of its cruisers, Nigeria and Cairo. Of the fourteen merchantmen eleven only remained, and two of them, Ohio and Brisbane Star, lay astern, stopped and seriously damaged.

Despite the severity of the damage to Brisbane Star, her gallant skipper, Captain F. N. Riley, refused to abandon her saying - “If we don’t go down with the ship, we’ll go to Malta. We are going to Malta.” She could only steam three knots, and was in a sinking condition. Groping her way round Cape Bon she eventually anchored off the Tunisian port of Sousse, where the Vichy French harbour authorities tried their utmost to detain her on the score that the ship was unseaworthy, which was undoubtedly the fact. But Captain Riley was not the sort of man to take the line of least resistance, so stubbornly refused to enter the harbour. Malta was the legitimate destination, and to Malta he would go. After several hours steaming, the lookout sighted a U-boat out to sea, but the U-boat dared not attack whilst Brisbane Star remained in French territorial waters following strict orders to that effect from Axis High Command. Captain Riley therefore continued to hug the shore while the U-boat cruised slowly along, parallel with him and just outside territorial waters. After a while a French patrol boat approached with orders to ‘Heave to’, and after a series of protracted series of indecipherable dots and dashes from Captain Riley, fired a warning shot across Brisbane Star’s bows. Captain Riley had no choice but to allow two French officers aboard, who insisted that ‘You will have to follow us to port. You and the crew must be interned.’ Now that all else had failed, Captain Riley proceeded to apply some of his Irish blarney and produced a bottle of whisky from a locker. This had the desired effect and half an hour later the two Frenchmen left, wishing the captain ‘Bon Voyage’ and taking with them a wounded crew member of Brisbane Star.

Now that the French had been pacified, Captain Riley set himself to outwit the U-boat. With brilliant navigation, he twisted and turned amongst the inshore shoals until he rightly judged that he had thrown his would-be attacker off the scent. Then, mustering no more than eight knots, Brisbane Star headed out to sea and on towards Malta. Next day she was escorted into Grand Harbour, down by the head with her forward holds badly flooded but still preserving most of her cargo intact. Only five merchantmen, of the original fourteen, reached Malta safely. After the arrival of Brisbane Star, only the gallant Ohio, with her all-important cargo of oil, remained to arrive. Yet, whilst the Ohio is probably the best remembered of these five merchantmen, it is Brisbane Star that was awarded the greatest number of decorations for her gallantry and fortitude. The D.S.O. for Captain Riley, five D.S.C’s, nine D.S.M’s, and three mentions.