GROUPS AND SINGLE DECORATIONS FOR GALLANTRY 1099
An extremely rare Second World War B.E.M. and Bar group of six awarded to Donkeyman Mahomed Tabet, Merchant Navy, his second award stemming from his gallantry on the occasion his ship was torpedoed and sunk on returning from Normandy in early July 1944
BRITISH EMPIRE MEDAL, (Civil)
G.VI.R., 2nd issue, with Second Award Bar (Mahomed Tabet); BRITISH WAR AND MERCANTILE MARINE WAR MEDALS (Mohamed Tabet); 1939-45 STAR; ATLANTIC STAR, clasp, France and Germany; WAR MEDAL 1939-45, mounted as worn on two separate bars, generally very fine or better (6)
£2500-3000
A total of 40 Bars were awarded to the B.E.M. in the period 1916-1992, one of them to 1st type Medal of the Order. And of these just 13 such awards were made in the 1939-45 War, eight of them to civilians and/or members of the Merchant Navy.
B.E.M. London Gazette 4 January 1944. Bar to B.E.M. London Gazette 9 January 1945:
‘The ship returning in convoy from Normandy to the United Kingdom was torpedoed. She broke in two and had to be abandoned. One boat was successfully launched and the majority of the crew got into it. Others were forced to jump into the sea but all were later rescued. Donkeyman Tabet Mahomed showed great courage, initiative and promptness. He returned to the engine-room to shut off the engines, although the ship was breaking in two and there was a grave risk of his being trapped below. Later, while in the boat, he was of great help and by his coolness and bearing set a fine example to the others.’
Mahomed Tabet, who was born in Aden in January 1883, the son of a British father and Arabic mother, served in the Mercantile Marine in the Great War, his campaign awards being sent to him via the Merchant Marine Offices in South Shields in January 1922.
Remaining employed as a Donkeyman over the coming decades, he was serving in the cargo tramp S.S. Baron Ramsay at the time of being awarded his B.E.M. and in the steamer S.S. Glendinning at the time of receiving his Second Award Bar, this latter on the occasion of his ship being torpedoed and sunk in the Channel on 5 July 1944 by the U-953, commanded by Kapitanleutnant Karl-Heinz Marbach, a noted U-boat ace and holder of the Knight’s Cross - although gazetted as a B.E.M., his second award is verified as a Bar on the relevant Admiralty award card.
Four of the Glendinning’s crew were killed by the impact of the torpedo, but the mortally wounded Master, John Cromarty, 20 crewman, seven D.E.M.S. gunners and one Naval signalman were picked up by M.L. 250, under Lieutenant-Commander J. D. S. Header of the 19th M.L. Flotilla, and later transferred to H.M.S. Fernie, under Lieutenant J. A. Tircker, R.N., and were landed at Sheerness.
The Glendinning’s senior surviving officers, Chief Officer Mr. W. MacIntyre, and Second Officer Mr. T. Lampard, subsequently stated:
‘We left Arromanches Beach pontoon at 1930 on 4 July and proceeded to the convoy anchorage. At 0730 on 5 June we weighed anchor and proceeded to convoy assembly point joining convoy FTC.27 at 1100 the same day. The convoy numbered 18 ships formed in two columns. We were Vice-Commodore, leading ship of the starboard column, abreast of the Commodore's ship. The convoy was escorted by one destroyer H.M.S. Fernie ... At 2156 on 5 July sailing at a speed of 7.5 knots a violent explosion occurred underneath the ship. The weather was fine, visibility good. The explosion occurred between No 2 hatch and the bridge. One of the crew reported that a few seconds before the explosion D.E.M.S. Gunner Griffiths who was at the starboard bridge Oerlikon, rushed into the wheelhouse to get his life jacket.
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