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Picture courtesy of Noonan's

QSA (0) (D. Couzens, Lg. Sto., H.M.S. Pearl);
[ 1914-15 Star ];
British War Medal (150731 D. Cozens, S.P.O., R.N.);
[ Victory Medal ];
RN LS&GC Ed VII (David Cozens, Ldg. Sto. 1 Cl., H.M.S. Pearl);
Russia, Empire, Medal for Zeal, Nicholas II, small, silver (150731 D. Cozens, Sto. P.O., H.M.S. Jupiter) officially impressed naming, on modern ‘St. Stanislaus’ ribbon, note variation in spelling of surname.

David Cozens was born in Lyme Regis, Dorset on 29 July 1867. A Labourer by occupation, he enlisted into the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class on 2 August 1889. He was advanced to Stoker in September 1890 when on HMS Himalaya and Leading Stoker in June 1901 when on HMS Britannia. He served on HMS Pearl, December 1901-November 1904, qualifying for the QSA, being promoted to Leading Stoker 1st Class in June 1902 and being awarded the LS&GC. in September 1904. He attained the rank of Stoker Petty Officer in July 1906 when on HMS Blake and was pensioned ashore on 3 August 1911. Cozens joined the RFR in November 1911 and was recalled to the Royal Navy on 2 August 1914. As Stoker Petty Officer he served on the old battleship HMS Jupiter, August 1914-May 1915.

In January 1915 the Admiralty received a request for assistance from the Russian Government, whose icebreaker used to keep open the passage to Archangel in the White Sea had broken down. In response the Royal Navy sent out the Tyne Guard Ship HMS Jupiter, an old Majestic-class battleship. She departed for Archangel in February 1915, freeing en-route a number of vessels stuck in the ice, occasionally by using explosive charges. She, too, sometimes became icebound, but still managed to make a major impression on the problem, improving the safe passage of numerous vessels, many of them laden with highly important war materials, among them the SS Thracia. The latter was taken in tow after the use of explosive charges to free her. Throughout these operations it was not unusual for the temperature to fall as low as minus 20 degrees, a hard test indeed on the morale and well being of the Jupiter’s crew. Her mission completed by May 1915, the Tzar expressed his gratitude by the presentation of a variety of Russian Honours and Awards to her crew. For his part, Cozens was awarded the Russian Medal for Zeal.

Cozens afterwards served in the light cruiser H.M.S. Constance, January-July 1916, in which ship he was present at the battle of Jutland. He was demobilised on 31 December 1918.

Picture courtesy of Noonan's

QSA (1) Cape Colony (W. Baker, A.B., H.M.S. Pearl.);
1914-15 Star (179263. W. Baker, A.B., R.N.);
British War and Victory Medals (179263 W. Baker. A.B. R.N.)

William Baker was born on 2 December 1878 at Stonehouse, Devon and was a general labourer prior to joining the Royal Navy on 5 April 1894 as a Boy 2nd Class. He was promoted to Boy 1st Class on 21 March 1895 and to Ordinary Seaman on 2 December 1896 where he was serving on Racoon. Baker served on Philomel from 15 June 1897 and was promoted to Able Seaman on 1 March 1898 the same day he left the ship. Baker then served aboard Pearl between 17 December 1901 until 29 November 1904 and during this time was to see service in the Second Boer War. Pearl was involved with escorting transports and landing parties of men at Port Nolloth and Lamberts Bay and was to assist in unloading and guarding transports, she remained in South Africa until 1904 when she was paid off at Simonstown.

Spink say it is considered that he should be entitled to a clasp 'South Africa 1902' see OMRS Journal Summer 1999 'The late award of Clasps to the Queen's South Africa Medal as issued to the Royal Navy' by Peter Singlehurst. On 7 May 1922 a Fleet Order was issued confirming that the clasp 'South Africa 1902' could be awarded to various ships involved in this specific action.

Baker then served on Simoon and served on various ships to include Defiance, Sentinel and Vivid I until he joined Tiger on 1 October 1914. Tiger was the most heavily armed battleship at the start of the Great War and fought at the Battle of Dogger Bank in 1915 where she did not perform well by all accounts. She next saw action at the Battle of Jutland and despite heavy shelling from the Germans suffered only slight damage. She was to provide distant cover at the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight in 1917 but spent the remainder of the war patrolling the North Sea. Baker spent his entire time on Tiger until he resigned from the Royal Navy on 14 March 1919.

Picture courtesy of Noonan's

QSA (2) Cape Colony, South Africa 1902 (E. Stonelake, A.B., H.M.S. Pearl).;
1914-15 Star (179561, E. C. Stonelake, P.O., R.N.);
British War and Victory Medals (179561 E. C. Stonelake. C.P.O. R.N.);
Delhi Durbar 1911 (E. C. Stonelake. P.O. 1st Class. H.M.S. Defence. Delhi 1911) privately named;
Royal Navy LS&GC GV, 1st issue (179561. E. C. Stonelake, P.O. H.M.S. Ramillies)

Edward Charles Stonelake was born at Torquay, Devon, on 7 March 1879, and entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class in May 1894. Advanced to Able Seaman in October 1898, he joined H.M.S. Pearl in December 1900, in which ship he served on patrol duties off the coast of South Africa in 1902, in addition to coming service ashore in Cape Colony.

Steady promotion having ensued - he was appointed Petty Officer 2nd Class in August 1905 and Petty Officer 1st Class in March 1907 - Stonelake added the Delhi Durbar 1911 medal to his accolades whilst serving in the Defence. As an escort ship to King George V in the Medina, two of her officers and 16 of her ratings were landed to form the Naval Guard during the celebrations ashore. They were subsequently presented with their Delhi Durbar medals by the King aboard the Medina in Bombay on 10 January 1912.

Shortly after the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, Stonelake joined the cruiser Tiger as a Gunnery specialist and he was consequently present at the battle of Dogger Bank on 24 January 1915, when her eight 13.5-inch guns did great execution, not least in a protracted duel with the Moltke and the Seydlitz. However, the Tiger, in common with Beatty’s flagship the Lion, did not escape unscathed, as evidenced by her Captain’s description of the time when she received her third hit from a large calibre shell:

‘Tiger steered in the direction of the fleeing enemy and then, at this very critical moment, when quick decision had to be made, when the great speed of the Germans meant that every second brought them nearer to safety, there occurred a very large explosion which rattled us all in the conning-tower very considerably. It appeared that a shell had entered the Intelligence Office, which was immediately below the conning-tower, and having exploded there, blew up through the gun control tower, rendering everybody in it hors de combat and killing Engineer Captain Taylor and six men, and wounding three officers and six men.’

Tiger sustained greater damage and losses at Jutland. Hit a total of 17 times during the battle, she suffered a loss of 24 men killed and 46 wounded. Notwithstanding such severe punishment, she delivered over 300 shells from her main armament and a further 136 rounds from her 6-inch guns, inflicting telling damage on the Moltke, Wiesbaden and Von der Tann

Her significant part in the battle is echoed in the words of numerous eye-witness accounts that appear in Jutland 1916 – Death in the Grey Waters, by Nigel Steel and Peter Hart. Most moving of all are the accounts of Tiger’s wounded and dying, a sight familiar to the ship’s padres, among them the Rev. Thomas Bradley, who assisted the medical teams as they went about their desperate work:

‘We had not been in action for a few minutes before the first wounded began to arrive in the distributing station. The stretcher parties worked splendidly. The cries of the wounded and burnt men were terrible to listen to. They were brought in sometimes with feet and hands hanging off. Very soon the deck of the distributing station was packed with wounded and dying men, and when fresh cases were brought in one had some difficulty in avoiding stepping on others. Very little operating, save of an urgent kind was done during the action, though we had an operating table ready … ’

Tiger reached Rosyth on the morning of 2 June, where she became the first of the ‘Splendid Cats’ to undergo repairs.

In May 1917, Stonelake removed to the Ramillies, and he was likewise employed when advanced to Chief Petty Officer in March 1919. He was demobilised shortly afterwards.

Sold with his original RN parchment Certificate of Service which records ‘21 Nov. 1917 Paid Prize Money - sinking of “Blucher”’ and Gunnery History Sheet showing ‘Qualified Gunlayer 1st Class’, ‘passed in school for Gunner’s Mate’ and ‘”VIVIV” 16 March 1916 Qualified Gunner’s Mate’. He later qualified as Director Layer at Excellent in February 1919.