Exceptional Naval and Polar Awards from the Collection of RC Witte

The outstanding Great War Dogger Bank D.S.C. and Antarctic 1902-04 group of six awarded to Lieutenant-Commander F. E. Dailey, Royal Navy - a carpenter by trade, he assisted in the building and fitting out of the Discovery and lent valuable service in Scott’s first expedition, service duly recognised by the naming of Dailey Islands in McMurdo Sound: subsequently Chief Carpenter of the cruiser Lion for much of the Great War, he was present at Heligoland Bight, Dogger Bank and Jutland, the latter action resulting in him being awarded the Russian Order of St. Anne Medal of Distinction for Foreigners

Distinguished Service Cross, G.V.R., hallmarks for London 1916, the reverse privately inscribed, ‘Chief Car. F. E. Dailey, “Dogger Bank”, H.M.S. Lion, 1915’; 1914-15 Star (Ch. Carpr. F. E. Dailey, D.S.C., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (Cd. Shpt. F. E. Dailey, R.N.); Polar Medal 1904, E.VII.R., silver, 1 clasp, Antarctic 1902-04 (Carpenter F. E. Dailey, “Discovery”); Royal Geographical Society’s Silver Medal for Scott’s Antarctic Expedition 1902-04, the edge officially impressed, ‘F. E. Dailey, R.N.’, where applicable, mounted as worn, including the riband of the Russian Order of St. Anne Medal of Distinction for Foreigners, generally very fine and better (6) £18000-22000

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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Provenance: Christie’s, 17 November 1987 (Lot 71); see Lot 707 in this catalogue for the recipient’s Russian Order of St. Anne Medal of Distinction for Foreigners.

D.S.C. London Gazette 3 March 1915.

As per Admiral Beatty’s despatch for gallant services in the action off the Dogger Bank, dated 24 January 1915.

Frederick Ernest Dailey was born in Portsmouth in 1873 and served his apprenticeship as a carpenter in Devonport Dockyard, following which, after ‘seven years of practical and theoretical shipbuilding’, he transferred to the Royal Navy and was serving in Ganges when recruited by a friend of Scott’s - a naval officer by the name of Arthur Ewart - for the Antarctic expedition.

Scott wrote to Dailey from his residence in Chelsea in November 1900, confirming his appointment as Carpenter - ‘Before you go to Dundee, where the ship is building, I shall hope to see you in London and tell you more of our plans and your work.’

Scott’s first expedition

Having duly assisted in the construction and fitting-out of the Discovery, Dailey was embarked for the journey South, a voyage during which he quickly made his mark with Scott, who wrote:

‘In his own department our carpenter, F. E. Dailey, worked with the same zealous care as the Boatswain. He possessed the same ‘eye’ for defects and the same determination that his charge should be beyond reproach.’

So, too, with the expedition’s Deputy Chief Scientist, George Murray, F.R.S., who was compelled to return home once the Discovery reached South Africa. Immediately on his return to the U.K. he wrote to Dailey’s mother in the following terms:

‘I promised your son when I left the Discovery at Simon’s Bay to write and assure you of his good health and and excellent spirits. He was respected and trusted by all his officers and personally I found him most useful and obliging on the voyage out to the Cape. He is a man of such excellent character that I regard him as one of the mainstays of the Expedition.’

A mainstay indeed, for, as verified by numerous published sources, he went on to participate in a number of sledging trips, Dr. Wilson noting in his diary on Wednesday 24 September that Dailey, in company with Koettlitz and Bernacchi, ‘went off man-hauling a lightly loaded sledge towards the west to investigate the old penknife ice Royds had met with in his journey’, and similarly of their return nine days later - ‘They were pretty tired out, but very perky and pleased to get home again.’

Next employed in one of the teams supporting Scott’s ‘Southern Journey’, Dailey was out on the ice sledge-hauling from 2-12 November 1902, before turning back for Hut Point on the latter date; and again six weeks later, having received a ‘Sledging Order’ from Lieutenant C. Royds, R.N., dated 31 December 1902:

‘You will proceed tomorrow with Mr. Ford and Whitfield, with provisions for 14 days, to the depot off the Bluff, the position of which you already know, taking with you 3 bags of provisions, one gallon of fuel and one box of biscuit, as a depot for Lieutenant Armitage ... Owing to the number of parties away, there is not sufficient gear to send a relief party out, should you require it. Wishing you a pleasant trip ... ’

A trip that lasted for 17 days.

By the stage, Dailey had clearly established himself as a popular member of the expedition, Dr. Wilson, among others, enjoying his company:

Monday 22 June 1903:

‘We sat down to our Christmas dinner to which the four Warrant Officers had been invited, namely the Bo’sun, the Second Engineer, the Chief Carpenter [Dailey] and the Steward. They were great fun and enjoyed themselves well. I had the Carpenter next me at dinner, the nicest of the four. We had the remains of the champagne that was sent on board specially for the King at Cowes. It was by no means bad stuff. The Carpenter asked me what it was about three parts through dinner. He said it wasn’t like any champagne he had ever drunk, because it “didn’t seem to do you any good.” He had done his best and had been unable to get any forrarder on it.’

Champagne interludes aside, Dailey continued to lend valuable service, and was back out on the ice man-hauling with Scott in September 1903, in a journey to the Western Depot, and again in the ‘Western Attempt’ journey of 12-21 October 1903, Scott noting in his journal of the 14th that Dailey was ‘a bit seedy, probably a little overcome with the march.’ Given the prevailing temperature of circa -50, not great surprise.

With the arrival of the relief ships Morning and Terra Nova in January 1904, the expedition came to a close, although the Discovery did not break free of the ice until February. And the return voyage was not without incident in terms of Dailey’s post as Carpenter, Wilson noting how he came to the rescue when Discovery’s rudder was ‘smashed up’ at the end of the same month:

‘The only thing to do was to hoist it and put in our spare one. It is at all times a heavy and tricky undertaking, as the rudder weighs about 5 tons. Our spare rudder is a good deal smaller than the broken one and there are doubts as to whether it will steer the ship. How the shaft of our rudder got broken is not quite clear. It may have happened at the glacier, where our stern got a heavy bump, or it may have happened in Wood Bay when we were backing in some very heavy pack. Anyhow the shift is splintered and revolves in the collar with no answering movement of the blade. Dailey the carpenter noticed it.’

Dailey was invested with his Polar Medal by King Edward VII in December 1905, having earlier that year been presented with his Royal Geographical Society Medal by Admiral Sir Lewis Beaumont, G.C.B., at that time C.-in-C. Devonport.

And, as verified by Scott’s post-expedition geological observations, he also left behind a permanent memorial in Antarctica:

‘The Dailey Islands are fine small conical masses surrounded by the ice in the middle of McMurdo Sound. Only one of these - the largest - has been visited, and the usual scoriaceous basalts were procured.’

Heligoland Bight and Dogger Bank

Dailey served with Scott in the battleship Bulwark 1908-10 and, but for his wife falling ill, would have accompanied the ill-fated 1910-13 expedition. Meanwhile, in July 1910, and having been advanced to Chief Carpenter, he joined the battle cruiser Lion, fitting-out at Devonport, and was similarly employed on the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914.

The flagship of Vice-Admiral David Beatty, Lion saw action at Heligoland Bight on the 28th, when she came to the rescue of our light cruisers and destroyers. The Admiral, boldly ignoring the threat of enemy submarines and mines, went straight for the enemy’s cruisers and, with his consorts, rapidly sank every German ship in sight, including the Koln and Ariadne. But such audacity brought with it the risk of accurate enemy return fire, Lion taking at least ten hits, one of which left a large hole in the aft deck. As it transpired, this was but the first of three occasions that the Lion limped back to base, such was Beatty’s unwavering desire to get to grips with the enemy.

Thus early in the new year, on 24 January, Lion was again in action, this time in a running fight off the Dogger Bank in which the Blucher was sunk and the Seydlitz lucky to survive - so, too, the Lion, which received the brunt of the enemy’s fire and was severely damaged. One of her officers, Sub. Lieutenant George Davies, R.N.V.R., described the action in his diary, referring to the gallant repair work enacted by Dailey and his carpenters:

‘Soon after 10.00 enemy get our range and we receive many salvos, the whole of the enemy’s fire being concentrated on us ... Two very heavy shocks at about 10.45 probably mines or torpedoes. Left gun of A turret out of action. Sight setter very badly injured, left gunlayer knocked out. Fire in A turret magazine. Magazine flooded and A turret out of action. Ship begins to list rapidly to port., 11-inch shell in X turret lobby. Carpenters party shore up bulkheads and endeavour to stop water coming in. List continues, taking water fore and aft. Chief Carpenter’s Mate another badly wounded by shells. 11.00 a.m. ship still rapidly listing. Shell is just aloft messdeck. Fire in canteen flat also in Stokers’ Mess deck, rig hoses and ply in flames, return all naked charges of cordite to B.U. magazine. Several of the Stokers’ Fire Party wounded, mess deck filled with melinite fumes. Serve out smoke pads, hardly able to breath, list very bad. Fire extinguished, only one oil lamp burning, engines topped ... 11.30 Lion hauls out of line all turrets out of action except X ... our list increases and we stop engines again. Carpenters and others shoring up bulkheads, etc., badly holed port side. Destroyers standing by us as we are in danger of sinking, fire crews left closed up for fear of submarines ... Indomitable stands by and takes us in tow.’

Lion eventually reached Rosyth and Dailey’s fine work in shoring up the bulkheads was recognised by a “mention” and the award of the D.S.C.

Jutland

In typical fashion, Beatty brought the Lion quickly into action on 31 May 1916, during what became known as ‘The Run to the South’, engaging in a ferocious duel with the Lutzow, following which he set about the Derfflinger - both were hit but not without cost, Lion taking at least 14 hits and suffering some 150 casualties, nearly a hundred of them fatalities. Fleet Surgeon MacClean takes up the story in his Medical Officers’ Journal:

‘The list of killed includes 6 officers and 84 men. The majority were killed outright but some lived for a short time and received some first aid treatment. Most of those killed were in Q Turret and magazine, etc., in the switchboard compartment under Q Turret, and on the mess deck aft on the starboard side, where a shell burst among a group of men in the repair, fire and stretcher parties. Many of the killed were blown to pieces, some were killed by concussion and general burns (especially those in Q Turret and switchboard room), and some had limbs blown off and other desperate wounds to which they soon succumbed. Q Turret was struck by a shell which burnt and killed most of the men in the gunhouse but three escaped. Shortly afterwards an explosion and fire occurred in the turret killing the survivors and the men in the magazine, etc., and the switchboard room below. One man only remained alive (S.B.S. Tennant), this S.B.S. had entered the turret to render first aid after the shell had burst and was burned and severely shocked by the explosion. All the killed were buried at sea on the evening of June 1st.’

Major Harvey, R.M.L.I., of Q Turret, was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for ordering the magazine to be flooded after a direct hit, thereby saving the ship, and we may be sure that Dailey was much in demand making urgent repairs to the Lion as she once more limped back to base - he was advanced to Lieutenant and awarded the Russian Order of St. Anne Medal of Distinction for Foreigners (see Lot 707).

The latter years - last survivor of Scott’s first expedition

Dailey removed to the Port Edgar depot ship Columbine in December 1917 and post-hostilities served as Barrack Master at Devonport, retiring in the rank of Lieutenant in October 1920 - though subsequently elevated to Lieutenant-Commander on the Retired List in October 1928.

In 1948, when the film “Scott of Antarctica” was being made, with John Mills in the role of Captain Scott, he was invited onto the set as a technical adviser’; he was also introduced to the explorer’s son Peter.

On his death in November 1961, aged 88 years, he was believed to have been the last survivor of Scott’s first expedition. He is buried in Ford Park Cemetery, Plymouth, where his headstone bears the epitaph “Duty Well Done - Deeds Not Words”.


to be sold with the following original documentation and photographs:


(i) Two letters to Dailey from Arthur Ewart, dated 4 and 12 October 1900, in which he offers Dailey the post of Carpenter of the Discovery, and discusses such issues as pay and conditions, the whole with Scott’s agreement.

(ii) Letter from George Murray, F.R.S. to Dailey’s mother, as cited above, dated 28 November 1901, on British Museum note paper.

(iii) A ‘Sledging Order’ issued to Dailey at Discovery’s Winter Quarters, dated 31 December 1912, and signed by Lieutenant C. Royds, R.N., as partly cited above.

(iv) Several photographs from the Antarctic Expedition 1902-04, including sledging parties and crew line-up taken on Discovery, together with a fine quality studio portrait photograph of the recipient in uniform, mounted on card and inscribed, ‘With best wishes, Fred’, and later images of Dailey with the actor John Mills and Peter Scott, the explorer’s son.

(v) National Antarctic Expedition communication regarding the recipient’s Polar Medal investiture at Buckingham Palace, dated 7 December 1905 and signed by Cyril Longhurst, the expedition’s secretary.

(vi) Illuminated presentation address to Dailey from the Chief and Warrant Officers of the Royal Naval Barracks, Devonport, with upper photograph of the Discovery and dated February 1906, in which is cited his Polar and Royal Geographical Society awards.

(vii) The Antarctic Club, membership certificate (No. 64), dated 1 May 1930 and in the name of ‘Lieutenant-Commander F. E. Dailey, R.N.’

(viii) Mention in despatches certificate, dated 3 March 1915, in the name of ‘Chf. Carp. Frederick Ernest Dailey, Royal Navy’.