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By FRANK URQUHART
Published on Wednesday 18 April 2012 00:01
IT WAS a celebrated David and Goliath battle of the Great War – a gloriously brave mismatch between a sparsely armed Scottish herring drifter and the might of the Austro-Hungarian navy.
And tomorrow the Victoria Cross awarded to the heroic skipper and the courageous crew of the Gowanlea is expected to be sold for up to £160,000 when Britain’s highest medal for gallantry goes under the hammer at Spinks in London.
The medal was awarded in 1917 to Joseph Watt, a 30-year-old fishing skipper born in the Banffshire fishing village of Gardenstown, for his “most conspicuous gallantry”.
In an epic confrontation – celebrated in poetry – the brave skipper refused to surrender his 87ft wooden trawler and instead sailed headlong towards an enemy light cruiser, the 424ft Navara, the ship of Captain Miklós Horthy, later to become Regent of Hungary.
The Novara carried a crew of 318, was armed with nine 3.9in guns and 17.7in torpedoes and was protected with 2.5in of armour plating.
The Gowanlea, being used to help patrol the Straits of Otranto to prevent Austrian submarines breaking out of the Adriatic into the Mediterranean Sea, carried only a crew of eight and a dog and was armed only with a six-pounder gun.
Undeterred, Skipper Watt made straight for the enemy ship, yelling to his crew: “Three cheers lads and let’s fight to the finish!” Watt ordered his crew to open fire, but the Gowanlea was quickly disabled by four direct hits from the cruiser.
Incredibly, the Gowanlea escaped and, despite extensive damage, joined in the rescue effort to recover fishermen from other blockade vessels destroyed in the battle.
The only victim of the battle with the Novara was the boat’s terrier mascot, which never recovered from the shock of the raid and died three days later.
Watt became a national hero. But he was never comfortable with his gallantry award, telling a journalist who asked for an interview after the war: “There has been too much said already and it should get a rest…I’m ashamed to read the exaggerations which have been printed.”
At the end of the war, Watt returned to herring fishing and bought another drifter, called the Bennachie
You can read more at http://www.scotsman.com/news/arts/bu...pper-1-2239872
Alastair
By FRANK URQUHART
Published on Wednesday 18 April 2012 00:01
IT WAS a celebrated David and Goliath battle of the Great War – a gloriously brave mismatch between a sparsely armed Scottish herring drifter and the might of the Austro-Hungarian navy.
And tomorrow the Victoria Cross awarded to the heroic skipper and the courageous crew of the Gowanlea is expected to be sold for up to £160,000 when Britain’s highest medal for gallantry goes under the hammer at Spinks in London.
The medal was awarded in 1917 to Joseph Watt, a 30-year-old fishing skipper born in the Banffshire fishing village of Gardenstown, for his “most conspicuous gallantry”.
In an epic confrontation – celebrated in poetry – the brave skipper refused to surrender his 87ft wooden trawler and instead sailed headlong towards an enemy light cruiser, the 424ft Navara, the ship of Captain Miklós Horthy, later to become Regent of Hungary.
The Novara carried a crew of 318, was armed with nine 3.9in guns and 17.7in torpedoes and was protected with 2.5in of armour plating.
The Gowanlea, being used to help patrol the Straits of Otranto to prevent Austrian submarines breaking out of the Adriatic into the Mediterranean Sea, carried only a crew of eight and a dog and was armed only with a six-pounder gun.
Undeterred, Skipper Watt made straight for the enemy ship, yelling to his crew: “Three cheers lads and let’s fight to the finish!” Watt ordered his crew to open fire, but the Gowanlea was quickly disabled by four direct hits from the cruiser.
Incredibly, the Gowanlea escaped and, despite extensive damage, joined in the rescue effort to recover fishermen from other blockade vessels destroyed in the battle.
The only victim of the battle with the Novara was the boat’s terrier mascot, which never recovered from the shock of the raid and died three days later.
Watt became a national hero. But he was never comfortable with his gallantry award, telling a journalist who asked for an interview after the war: “There has been too much said already and it should get a rest…I’m ashamed to read the exaggerations which have been printed.”
At the end of the war, Watt returned to herring fishing and bought another drifter, called the Bennachie
You can read more at http://www.scotsman.com/news/arts/bu...pper-1-2239872
Alastair