Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An exceptional and extremely rare Cronstadt ‘Scooter’ Raid D.S.M. awarded to Chief Motor Mechanic B. M. Masters, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, who was decorated for his gallantry in C.M.B. 88, likewise his second-in-command, Lieutenant G. C. Steele, R.N., who was awarded the V.C.

Credited with sinking two Russian battleships, C.M.B. 88 came under heavy fire, her captain being killed at the helm and the 19-year-old Masters wounded

Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R. (M.B. 2996. B. M. Masters, Ch. M.M. R.N.V.R. “C.M.B. 88” Cronstadt Harbour 18 Aug 1919.), together with a bronze East Midland Centre A.C.U. motor cycling prize medal, named on the reverse ‘Mansfield and Dis: M.C.C. & L.C.C. Clipstone Drive. 1923. B. M. Masters. 2 3/4 Massey 1/2 mile. 26 secs.’, extremely fine (2) £4,000-£5,000

D.S.M. London Gazette 11 November 1919:

‘The following awards have been approved for services in Russia 1919.’

Masters was originally recommended for the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal (C.G.M.) by Rear-Admiral Walter Cowan:

‘Was in charge of one engine of Coastal Motor Boat No. 88 in the attack on Cronstadt Harbour on the morning of 18th August 1919. This boat entered Cronstadt Harbour under heavy fire and torpedoed the battleships Andrei Pervozanni and Petropavlovsk.’

Baden Marples Masters was born at Chesterfield, Derbyshire on 22 June 1900, and was employed as an apprentice at the Rolls Royce works in Derby on entering the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as a Motor Mechanic in July 1918.

Having then been employed in the Motor Boat Section, he was demobilised in February 1919 and resumed his apprenticeship with Rolls Royce. In July 1919, however, he received an Admiralty telegram inviting him to volunteer for special work in the Baltic, an invitation he promptly accepted.

Subsequently appointed a Chief Motor Mechanic and enrolled for service in Coastal Motor Boats (C.M.Bs), he found himself ordered to Bjorko in the Baltic in the summer of 1919, in one of eight boats intended for use in a raid on Kronstadt harbour, under Commander C. C. Dobson, D.S.O., R.N., a daring enterprise that became known as the ‘Scooter Raid’.

And accompanying them on that occasion on the night of 18-19 August as an observer was Augustus Agar, V.C., who had already established a secret base at Terrioki on the Finnish shore north of Cronstadt, from whence, in addition to carrying out a courier service for agents in his C.M.B., he had executed a brilliant solo attack on the Russian cruiser Oleg in Cronstadt harbour on 16-17 June, winning a V.C. in the process - and a price of £5,000 on his head from the irate Bolsheviks.

Of subsequent events on 18-19 August 1919, much has been written, not least by Agar in Baltic Episode, but the following summary of events is taken from The Victoria Cross at Sea, by John Winton:

'At 1 a.m. on 18 August, the eight C.M.Bs led by Commander C. C. Dobson in C.M.B. 31, left [Admiral] Cowan’s base at Bjorko Sound, thirty miles east of Kotlin Island. The C.M.Bs were manned by two officers and an Engine-Room Artificer, and each had a Finnish smuggler on board with local knowledge of the Bay. They reached the north side of the island at about 4 a.m. just as the diversionary bombing attack by twelve R.A.F. Sopwith Camels was taking place, and slipped past a row of forts which were supposed to be armed with heavy 11-inch, 9-inch and 6-inch guns (in fact, at least two forts had only rifles and machine-guns). However, the guns’ crews were caught completely napping and even when the C.M.Bs roared into the inner harbour at about 4.25 a.m., many of the guns could not fire because they feared to hit each other or because they could not depress far enough.

Three C.M.Bs had been detailed to sink the destroyer Gavril at the entrance but their torpedoes ran too shallow and missed. Assisted by searchlights from the forts Gavril retaliated and eventually sank three C.M.Bs. Meanwhile, the others swept into the harbour in two columns. C.M.B. 31, conned by Lieutenant McBean, reached the inner jetty and torpedoed the battleship Andrei Pervozvanni. The C.M.B. stayed for a time in the harbour, under heavy machine-gun fire, whilst Dobson directed the other C.M.Bs before retreating under the shelter of the harbour walls to the open bay … ’

Of C.M.B. 88’s fate - with Masters aboard - Winton continues:

‘On the run into harbour the C.O. of C.M.B. 88, Lieutenant Dayrell-Reed, was shot through the head and killed. His body slumped over the steering wheel so that the motor boat began to career out of control. The second-in-command, Lieutenant G. C. Steele, manhandled his dead Captain’s body away from the controls and took charge himself, steadying the boat on course once more for her target, the battleship Andrei Pervozvanni. Steele fired one torpedo at 100 yards range, and then had to manoeuvre the C.M.B. in a very confined space to get a clear shot at the other battleship, the Petropavlosk, which was obscured by the hull of the Andrei Pervozvanni and shrouded in the smoke from her. Steele only just had enough room to turn but headed for the entrance, firing at the machine-guns along the wall as he went, and he too gained the safety of the bay outside, where Agar in C.M.B. 7, who had been acting as a kind of traffic marshal, was waiting. There, Lieutenant Bremner in C.M.B. 24 also arrived, having torpedoed and sunk the submarine depot ship Pamyat Azova. Both battleships sank in the inner harbour, as the remaining C.M.Bs roared across the water back to base.

This brilliant coup de main severely embarrassed the Cabinet, who were at that very moment conducting delicate negotiations with the Bolsheviks for the withdrawal of the large British land forces then in Archangel. The raid also had another unexpected and unfortunate political effect. The Russian Baltic Fleet, and especially the Cronstadt garrison, had been scornfully critical of the Bolsheviks. The audacity of the raid caused them to turn temporarily over to the Bolshevik side. However, Victoria Crosses are happily not awarded by politicians, and Dobson and Steele [Masters’s skipper] were duly gazetted on 11 November 1919, the first anniversary of Armistice Day.’

In his own words

Masters subsequently wrote several letters home, describing C.M.B. 88’s part in the raid, some of which were published in the home press. In one of them, he stated:

‘You will be glad to hear that I am safe I know. We gave the Bolshies hell on Sunday night, or rather 2 a.m. Monday. Seven C.M.Bs set out, 88BD had the honour of leading the attack, and was told off to put under a big battle cruiser which they have been after for a long while, and they knew that “Blood” Reed (Lieutenant Dayrell Reed, D.S.O., D.S.C., R.N.) was the only man to do it. Well, we put her under, and also another big cruiser.

Now I will tell you all about it. Before we set off “Blood” Reed had me in his cabin, also the other mechanic, and he told us of the honour we had received in being chosen to go right into Kronstadt harbour, and he said if we do not sink her we will put up a good fight, and all go down together. He said we will not go back and say we made a mess of it. We had a drink with him and then went down to our boat. We had a good look over our engines, and Reed said, “For God’s sake Masters, do what you can for us, as it is up to you to get us in and get us out again.” Well off we went. We went straight through the fort without being seen, then into the harbour. We shot past guns of every description. Then C.M.B. 79 got a shell and it blew her to bits. Then C.M.B. 62 got put down, and then No. 24.

We made straight for our cruiser and blew it up with a torpedo, then we went for another one with our remaining torpedo, which split her in two and she sank. Bullets were all the time flying through our boat until it was like a pepper box. “Blood” Reed got shot through the head and fell dead in the Sub-Lieutenant’s arms, and I got hit in the thigh from machine-gun fire, but it is better, and I have got some of the bandages off already. I then got the order “full speed ahead” and I knew we were scooting off. Well, the bullets were flying all round and the shells, too. One big shell dropped just astern of us and blew us clean out of the water. We got out of the harbour, and then we had all the forts to get through. The shelling started again, but we were doing about 55 miles per hour, and they could not touch us. All the time coming back I had to keep filling my tin hat with oil and pouring it into the oil tank, as it was shot through. With one leg useless, as it had got numbed, the engines burst just as we got into safe waters, as I could not keep it up any longer. I was properly jiggered up and exhausted. I have been told that I have been recommended for the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal.’

In the event, Masters was awarded the D.S.M. An exceptional D.S.M.

Fatal crash

On returning home in December 1919, he took up employment as a salesman and demonstrator of the motor car department at Askey’s Garage, Nottingham. Later still, he was appointed manager of the garage’s motor-cycle department, aged 23. Moreover, with typical daring, he took up motor-cycle racing, one newspaper recounting the occasion a spectator commented on his fearless riding and what sort of flowers he would like for his funeral. Tragically, the said spectator’s prediction proved accurate, for, in September 1923, Masters was killed in a crash on the racing track at Derbyshire. An event even more tragic on account of his marriage to a Nottingham lady just a fortnight earlier.

Sold with two original letters, one of them as sent by the recipient to his aunt on 5 September 1919, with an account of the raid, and the other as sent by his senior mechanic to his father, praising his son’s calm and gallantry under fire, dated 14 September 1919, together with a pencilled extract taken from another of the recipient’s letters home; a good quantity of wartime newspaper cuttings in which he is quoted, together with reports on his death in September 1923, and a portrait photograph in uniform.

The medal rolls confirm his entitlement to the British War and Victory Medals.