Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A scarce Great War 'double issue' group of seven awarded to Chief Engineer R. A. Mackenzie, Mercantile Fleet Auxiliary, late Royal Naval Reserve, who was torpedoed in the mid-Atlantic in 1942 and survived a week in an open boat, aged 62 years

1914-15 Star (Eng. Lt. R. A. Mackenzie, R.N.R.); 1914-15 Star (Engr. R. A. M. Mackenzie, M.F.A.); British War Medal 1914-20 (Eng. Lt. R. A. Mackenzie. R.N.R.); British War Medal 1914-20 (Engr. R. A. M. Mackenzie. M.F.A.); Mercantile Marine War Medal (Robert A. Mackenzie.); Victory Medal 1914-19 (Eng. Lt. R. A. Mackenzie. R.N.R.); Victory Medal 1914-19 (Engr. R. A. M. Mackenzie. M.F.A.) good very fine and better (7) £400-£500

Robert Aitkenhead Mackenzie was born at Forres, Morayshire, on 23 June 1880. He commenced a long maritime career as apprentice fitter aboard the James Carmichael on 18 January 1897, and served from 1902 to 1905 as Assistant Engineer aboard the S.S. Minnetonka, S.S. Cambrian and S.S. Michigan. Issued a Second Class Engineer's Certificate of Competency at Dundee on 3 May 1905, he was appointed to a Commission with the Royal Naval Reserve on 22 March 1915, and was immediately sent to H.M.S. Manica as Temporary Engineer Lieutenant.

Requisitioned by the Admiralty and adapted to carry a kite balloon for naval observation, H.M.S. Manica reached the Island of Lemnos on 16 April 1915 and was assigned to the Second Squadron to support the Gallipoli landings at Anzac Cove. On 19 April 1915, her balloon observers directed the bombardment of an Ottoman Army encampment, and a few days later were involved in the destruction of barracks at Kabatepe. Furthermore, on 27 April 1915, an observer in Manica's balloon sighted an Ottoman transport ship on the far side of the Gallipoli peninsula, and successfully directed H.M.S. Queen Elizabeth's 15-inch guns to hit and sink her. On at least two occasions Ottoman aircraft attempted to bomb either H.M.S. Manica or her balloon. None of the attacks succeeded.

Mackenzie went on to witness the Suvla Bay landings aboard H.M.S. Manica, before returning to Birkenhead for leave and a refit of the ship. He remained aboard her following the addition of a seaplane and transfer to German East Africa, but in August 1917, his Temporary Commission was terminated. He subsequently joined the Mercantile Fleet Auxiliary and served aboard a number of merchant vessels as 1st Engineer, and was later issued medals in recognition of Great War service in both branches of the fleet.

Advanced Chief Engineer, Mackenzie was posted to the merchantman D'Entrecasteaux in 1942. A hand-written letter from the recipient's daughter, dated 16 April 1975, describes his experience:
'On his second voyage after the beginning of the war he was taken off his ship in South Africa to superintend repairs in the engine room to two Vichy ships which had been sabotaged before capture. Eventually he sailed in one of these, the D'Entrecasteaux, and was torpedoed half-way across the South Atlantic, near the end of 1942. They were in an open boat for a week and finally sailed into St. Lucia in the West Indies. He returned home by troop-ship from New York - invalided out.'

Mackenzie was discharged at Dundee on 1 August 1946.

Sold with two original letters from the recipient's daughter to the vendor; a portrait photograph of the recipient; and extensive copied research.