,1<#?;;!=?BH<
As Commander Green brought the Glowworm alongside, nose towards the blazing barge, the crew of the gunboat rushed with hoses to
fire-stations on the fore-deck in preparation to put out the conflagration. Many of Glowworm’s crew not involved in fighting the fire
crowded the fore-deck to watch the brilliant bonfire before them.
As the crew of Glowworm began to fight the fire, the Cockchafer, some distance away, began to manoeuvre to approach the barge
from another direction. A crowd had gathered ashore of men watching the spectacle. As the crowd watched in horror a huge wall of
flame rose into the calm night sky. Soon after there was another explosion and several smaller ones after that.
It is unknown how many of Glowworm’s crew died in the initial explosions but it now must have been apparent to Commander Green
that he had brought his ship alongside a blazing ammunition barge. A few minutes later an enormous flash blanketed the countryside.
Seconds later the deafening roar and shock wave of the explosion ripped through air sending debris up to a mile away.
Slowly as those ashore began to regain their senses, hastily cobbled together rescue teams began to make their way towards
Glowworm in whatever vessel they could find. As the rescue teams boarded Glowworm they could not believe the devastation that
awaited them. The entire superstructure seemed to be scorched and bent, debris and what remained of the bodies of the crew lay
everywhere. The fore-deck had suffered the most damage being closest to the explosion. All of the fire-fighting crews had been wiped
out whilst manning their hoses.
As rescuers came across wounded sailors they carried them to the relatively undamaged after-deck and lay them in rows for the
medical staff to attend to. Commander Green was found on the bridge mortally wounded, surrounded by the bodies of other officers
and sailors who had been killed outright in the explosion. He was evacuated to the hospital barge which moored alongside the
smoking Glowworm but did not regain consciousness and died an hour later. In the meantime Cockchafer, under Commander Preston
Thomas, had come to her stricken sister ships aid. She lit the ship with her searchlights to aid the rescue efforts whilst coming
alongside. From the bridge of Cockchafer, Commander Thomas directed the rescue crews through a megaphone.
The following day the full scale of the tragedy became apparent. Onboard Glowworm, 23 officers and men had been killed, and
another 15 had been wounded. Additionally two M.M.R. men and two Russian seamen onboard a nearby ammunition barge had been
killed by flying debris and three other M.M.R. men wounded. It was the largest single day loss of life suffered by the Royal Navy in
North Russia 1918-19.
The damage to Glowworm was significant. She was towed back to Archangel to be refitted and repaired and was able to make her way
back to England under her own steam, but she was too worn out to continue service and was paid off almost as soon as she arrived
back at Chatham on 18 November 1919 and was eventually scrapped in 1921. With copied service papers and research.
374
MEMORIAL PLAQUE 1914-18 (Louis James Lemyre) with associated slip in card envelope; CANADIAN MEMORIAL CROSS, G.VI.R.
(B.62078 Cpl. R. W. Smith) suspended from an ornate silver brooch in the form of a ribbon bow; with a further silver
ribbon bow brooch, good very fine and better (3) £90-110
Sapper Louis James Lemyre, Canadian Railway Troops, died of phthisis (tuberculosis) on 17 January 1920, aged 24 years. He was
buried in Gravenhurst St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Cemetery. He was the son of Annie Lemyre, of Gravenhust, Ontario, and the late
Almidy Lemyre; and the husband of M. Lemyre, of 849 Lansdowne Avenue, West Toronto, Ontario.
375
‘BATTLE OF BRITAIN’ INTEREST: MEMORIAL PLAQUE, rectangular, brass, 228 x 102mm., inscribed, ‘Battle of Britain. Here on
October 15th 1940 with High Courage Serg./Pilot Stanley Allen Fenemore. R.A.F.V.R. Died in Action’; together with
1939-45 STAR, copy Battle of Britain clasp; DEFENCE AND WAR MEDALS, these unnamed; cloth ‘R.A.F.’ wings, medals nearly
extremely fine, plaque in good condition (5) £100-140
Stanley Allen Fenemore was the son of William Allen Fenemore and Gertrude Fenemore of Whitewell, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland.
As an Airman, after training as a Pilot, he was posted to 5 OTU, Aston Down in May 1940. Converting to Hurricanes he was then
posted to No. 245 Squadron at Aldergrove on 17 July. He then moved to No. 501 Squadron at Kenley in September 1940. In action
with Bf109s over Redhill on 15 October 1940, Fenemore was shot down and killed. His Hurricane, V.6722 crashed at Postern Gate
Farm, Godstone. Aged 20 years at the time of his death, he was buried in Liverpool (Allerton) Cemetery. A memorial bench bearing the
above plaque was placed beside the field in which Sergeant Pilot Fenemore crashed.
With copied research.
376
AN ORIGINAL MENTION IN DESPATCHES CERTIFICATE IN THE NAME OF His Excellency Hussein Fahmy Bey, dated 6 April 1944, in
excellent condition £30-50
www.dnw.co.uk
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