Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 2nd issue, fixed suspension (198149 J. C. Evans, A.B., H.M.S. Vivid) extremely fine £80-£100

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The James Fox Collection of Naval Awards.

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John Charles Evans was born into a Welsh-speaking household at Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire, on 1 August 1882. A tin manufacturer by occupation, he enlisted into the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class on 5 February 1898. Advanced to Boy 1st Class when on the Minotaur in November 1898, he was promoted to Ordinary Seaman in August 1900 when on Thunderer, and Able Seaman when on Hermione in February 1903. Evans was discharged to shore in August 1912 and joined the R.F.R. at Devonport in August 1912.

Recalled for duty on 3 August 1912, Evans was posted to the old battleship Canopus. It was not to be an uneventful posting. With Vice-Admiral Von Spee’s Far Eastern Squadron on the loose in the Pacific, the venerable Canopus was detailed to support the outgunned South Atlantic Squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock. Concerned by Canopus’s lack of speed, Cradock chose to leave the battleship behind as he searched for Von Spee’s squadron off the coast of Chile. The two squadrons found each other off Coronel on 1 November 1914. During the battle, the armoured cruisers Good Hope and Monmouth were sunk with all hands, whilst the light cruiser Glasgow and the armed merchant cruiser Otranto managed to escape. Learning of the disaster, Canopus beat a hasty retreat before it suffered a similar fate. Reasoning that the German squadron would next target the Falkland Islands, with its valuable coal supplies, Canopus was taken into Port Stanley harbour and beached to provide an unsinkable harbour defence. In response to the defeat at Coronel, a squadron commanded by Vice-Admiral Doveton Sturdee had been quickly despatched to the Falklands, centred upon the battle cruisers Invincible and Inflexible.

On 8 December 1914, unaware of the preparations, Von Spee’s squadron approached Port Stanley. Equally unaware of the German squadron’s approach, the British squadron was unprepared for action being in the process of coaling. The stationary British squadron would have made an easy target, but fortunately the Germans were surprised by gunfire from the Canopus. That and the sight of battle cruiser masts sent the German squadron scuttling away. This respite allowed the British squadron to raise steam and eventually run down Von Spee’s squadron and destroy all but one of the cruisers.

Evans remained in Canopus until May 1916 after which he was posted to Vivid, where he remained until his demobilisation in June 1921. He was awarded the L.S. & G.C. medal in 1923.

Sold with copied record of service and other research.