Exceptional Naval and Polar Awards from the Collection of RC Witte

The Second World War O.B.E. group of eight awarded to Engineer Captain S. F. Heraud, Royal Navy, who, having been present at the destruction of the German raider Leopard in March 1917, went on to lend distinguished service in the Baltic operations of 1919, including a unique assignment as ‘British Engineer to the Russian Admiralty’ - it was in this capacity, for renovating and sailing the Russian battleship Volya to Sebastopol, that he was awarded the M.B.E.
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. (Military) Officer’s 2nd type breast badge, in its Royal Mint case of issue; The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Military) Member’s 1st type breast badge, hallmarks for London 1919, in its Garrard & Co. case of issue; 1914-15 Star (272419 S. F. Herand, E.R.A. 3, R.N.), note surname spelling; British War and Victory Medals (Mte. S. F. Heraud, R.N.); Coronation 1937; Defence and War Medals, the second to sixth mounted as worn, very fine and better (8) £1200-1500

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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O.B.E. London Gazette 1 January 1946.

Stanley Francis Heraud was born in Bristol in November 1891 and entered the Royal Navy as a Boy Artificer in August 1907. An Engine Room Artificer 3rd Class in the battleship Superb by the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, he removed to the cruiser Achilles in March 1916 and was present at her famous duel with the German raider Leopard on 16 March 1917, in the company of the armed boarding steamer Dundee - after a two hour engagement, including a torpedo hit delivered by the Achilles, the Leopard was sunk with all hands, among them Dundee’s original boarding party.

Advanced to Acting Mate, R.N. in May 1917, Heraud served in the Iron Duke from June 1917 until July 1920, in which period he saw action against the Bolsheviks in the Black Sea, and assisted in the ‘wrecking of engines’ of the enemy ships based at Theodosia in the Crimea - and, no doubt in entertaining the numerous refugee guests who sought safe passage in Iron Duke, a crowd he described as ‘Russian princesses and professors’. But it was for a special mission assigned him later that year that he was awarded his M.B.E. (London Gazette 17 July 1919 refers): ‘In November 1919, Mate Heraud was detached, with three hours’ notice, to take over as Chief Engineer of the relatively new Russian battleship Volya which was interned at Izmid, Turkey, in the Sea of Marmora. She had been the Imperator Aleksander III in the Czarist Navy and had been under the German flag at Sebastopol from May 1918 until the end of the War. She had been taken to Izmid by the Royal Navy in April 1919 to keep her out of Bolshevik hands. She was in bad condition. In nine days, however, Heraud got Volya’s machinery in working order so she could be sailed back to Sebastopol - Denekin’s White Army victories made this possible. He was assisted by ratings from Iron Duke and the Russian sailors remaining in Volya.

In the passage to Sebastopol, Heraud experienced a great storm and was without sleep for 35 hours, steaming 14 knots and arriving at Sebastopol just before dark. He reported that it was difficult to get through the Starits of Bosphorus on the way. Heraud remained with the Russians for a month as ‘British Engineer to the Russian Admiralty’, instructing the Russian Engineer Officers about Volya. He saved many letters he received complimenting him on the Volya trip, including one from Russian Admiral Nenkoff, Commander-in-Chief’ (extract taken from forthcoming O.M.R.S. article by Richard C. Witte refers).

Between the Wars, Heraud served in Malta Dockyard in the mid-1920s and was Engineer Lieutenant-Commander in the new destroyer Amazon 1928-31, a ship with advanced and experimental machinery - her first major cruise was 20,000 miles around South America. Further seagoing appointments in the Wallace and Shropshire in the 1930s followed, the latter ship assisting in the rescue of passengers from the stricken Italian liner Ausonia at Alexandria in October 1935. Finally, about the time of the renewal of hostilities in 1939, he came ashore to take up an appointment in Chatham Dockyard, where his speciality was gunnery mounts. He was placed on the Retired List as an Engineer Captain in 1944, but actually remained employed at Chatham until 1947, the year following the award of his O.B.E. He died in 1962.

Sold with a mass of original documentation, Richard Witte reckoning that the recipient ‘must have saved every letter and official document he ever received’, including all of those pertaining to his experiences in the Baltic 1919-20; added to which are several fascinating photograph albums, images including the Volya and Iron Duke carrying out a bombardment against the Bolsheviks, and a number of other associated artefacts, such as engraved knapkin rings (2) and his Engineer Captain’s epaulettes. In all, a remarkable archive and collection.