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HMS Magicienne served between October 1899 and November 1900. She was commanded by Captain W B Fisher CB.


Picture courtesy of Warwick and Warwick

QSA (0) (F. Boon E.R.A. H.M.S. Magicienne);
AGS 1902 (1) Jubaland (E.R.A. 2 Cl)

With original A5 size hand written diary (46 written pages) for HMS Aeolus commissioned 16 Jan 1894, which served Mediterranean 1894 and China & Far East 1895-6. Also with about 70 written pages of letters from him while serving on Aeolus from China, Hong Kong, Singapore etc sent to his brother Will, a list of ports visited with dates etc, a few photos from Far East etc. Also with copied rolls, census and some research.

Picture courtesy of DNW

E&W Africa (1) Gambia 1894 (S. Avery., Sto. HMS Magpie);
QSA (0) (S. Avery, Ch. Sto. HMS Magicienne);
AGS 1902 (1) Jubaland (Silas Avery, Ch. Sto. HMS Magicienne);
BWM 1914-20 (133118 S. J. Avery. Ch. Sto. R.N.);
Royal Navy LS&GC EdVII.(133118 S. J. Avery, Ch. Sto., HMS Leander.)

Approximately 46 East and West Africa Medals with clasp Gambia 1894 awarded to HMS Magpie.

Silas John Avery, a labourer from Plymouth, was born on 9 March 1866. Enlisting in the Royal Navy on 6 May 1885, he served in HMS Magpie during operations on and off the West Coast of Africa in February 1894, landing as part of the Naval Brigade in operations against the slave raider Chief Silah, when Magpie suffered the loss of one officer and four men killed, and seven wounded, a 25% casualty rate, the highest of any ship present. He later joined HMS Magicienne, and was present in South African waters during the Boer War. In early 1901 he was one of the 225 members of the Naval Brigade that landed in East Africa, at Kismayu, in support of army operations against the Ogaden Somalis. He was awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal on 20 February 1906, and he was shore pensioned 25 May 1907. Joining the Royal Fleet Reserve three days later, he was recalled for service during the Great War, serving at home before being demobilised on 22 June 1916.

Picture courtesy of DNW

QSA (0) (185605 S. H. Dawe, Ord. Sig., HMS Magicienne);
AGS 1902 (1) Jubaland (185605 S. H. Dawe, Ord. Sig., HMS Magicienne);
Victory Medal 1914-19 ((185605 S. H. Dawe, P.O. Tel. R.N.);
Royal Navy LS&GC GV, 1st issue (185605 S. H. Dawe, P.O. (Tel) HMS Amphion)

Duplicates of the QSA and A.G.S., and most likely the Naval LS&GC, were issued to his widow on 26 March 1915.

Samuel Henry Dawe was born at Aubyn, Devonport, Devon, on 20 March 1880, and entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class from Greenwich School on 8 September 1895. He served as Ordinary Signalman aboard Magicienne from November 1897 to June 1901, seeing service off South Africa and Somaliland.

He became a Petty Officer (Telegraphist) in November 1907, and joined the newly commissioned scout cruiser Amphion on 2 April 1913. By the start of the War Amphion was leader of the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla in the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron, assigned to the Harwich Force, defending the eastern approaches to the English Channel, under the command of Captain Cecil H. Fox. In the morning of 5 August, Amphion and the 3rd Flotilla sortied into the North Sea to patrol the area between Harwich and the Dutch island of Terschelling for German activity. At 10:15 a ship in the black, buff, and yellow colours of the Great Eastern Railway's steamers that plied between Harwich and the Hook of Holland was spotted. Fox sent the destroyers Lance and Landrail to investigate and shortly afterwards another destroyer reported that a trawler had seen a suspicious ship, 'throwing things overboard, presumably mines'. Amphion led the flotilla to investigate and observed that the fleeing ship was deploying mines even then. At 10:45, Lance opened fire at a range of 4,400 yards (4,000 m).

The target was S.M.S. Königin Luise, a former Hamburg-Heligoland excursion boat that had been converted to an auxiliary minelayer by the Germans. They had planned to mount a pair of 8.8-centimetre (3.5 in) guns on board, but they did not have the time to do so; her only armament was a pair of lighter guns and 180 mines. On the night of 4 August, she had departed Emden and headed into the North Sea to lay mines off the Thames Estuary, which she began to do at dawn.

The fire from the destroyers was ineffective until Amphion closed to a range of 7,000 yards and began hitting the German ship at about 11:15. By noon, Königin Luise was sinking and the three British ships rescued 5 officers and 70 ratings. The flotilla proceeded onwards with their patrol until they reached the Dutch coast around 21:00 and turned for home. Fox was uncertain as to the locations of the mines laid by Königin Luise and laid a course that was seven nautical miles west of where he thought the mines were. He guessed wrongly and led his flotilla over the danger area.

At 06:35, Amphion struck a mine that detonated underneath her bridge. The explosion set her forecastle on fire and broke the ship's keel. The destroyer Linnet attempted to tow the cruiser, but a deep crack across her upper deck showed that she was hogging badly and Fox ordered his crew to abandon ship. Shortly afterwards, her forward magazine exploded, throwing one 4-inch gun into the air that narrowly missed Linnet. One of Amphion's shells burst on the deck of the destroyer Lark, killing two of her men and the only German prisoner rescued from the cruiser. Amphion then rapidly sank within 15 minutes of the explosion losing 1 officer and 131 ratings killed in the sinking, plus an unknown number of the crew rescued from Königin Luise.

From the next Wooley and Wallis sale.


Picture courtesy of Wooley and Wallis

QSA (0) (R.J.Harris AB. HMS Magicienne) (only 230 no bars to ship)
AGS (1) Jubaland (R.J.Harris AB. HMS Magicienne) Only 172 medals to the ship.

Born Taunton, Somerset.

Picture courtesy of DNW

QSA (0) (G. E. Newton, A.B. HMS Magicienne) small impressed naming;
AGS 1902 (1) Jubaland (G. E. Newton, A.B. HMS Magicienne)

Picture courtesy of DNW

QSA (0) (M. Buckley. Lg. Sto. 1st Cl., HMS Magicienne);
BWM 1914-20 (115272 M. Buckley. S.P.O. R.N.);
Royal Navy LS&GC GV, 1st issue (115272. Michael Buckley, Sto, P.O. HMS Impregnable.)

Michael Buckley was born in Country Cork, Ireland in July 1859. He joined the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class in January 1881, and advanced to Stoker Petty Officer in August 1914. Buckley served with HMS Magicienne, November 1897 - June 1901. He was discharged due to age in July 1909, but re-engaged for service at HMS Impregnable during the Great War. Buckley was demobilised in June 1919.