A Collection of Medals for the South Atlantic Campaign 1982 725


The South Atlantic medal awarded to Leading Marine Engineer Mechanic J. C. ‘Nick’ Carter, H.M.S. Endurance, who had the dubious honour of being ‘captured’ by the Argentineans some six weeks before the outbreak of hostilities


South Atlantic 1982, with rosette (LMEM (M) J C Carter D088113W HMS Endurance) nearly extremely fine £1,000-£1,200


Leading Marine Engineer Mechanic (Mechanical) John C. ‘Nick’ Carter was serving aboard H.M.S. Endurance in mid-February 1982 when she was granted permission to dock for maintenance and re-storing at the Argentine naval port and holiday resort of Mar del Plata. The Argentine navy granted the privilege of permitting Captain Barker, R.N., to berth inside the main naval base. His engineers were allowed to use the naval workshops for repair work and the ship was treated almost as though she was an Argentine vessel.


‘Captain Barker and his officers particularly enjoyed the company, at dinner and at a cocktail party, of a charming Argentine officer named Captain de Fragata Horacio Alberto Bicain. He was the commanding officer of the submarine Santa Fe. He and Barker were destined to meet again, only a few weeks later, under very different circumstances.


The positioning of the Endurance, inside the naval base area, placed her in close proximity to the tightly guarded submarine base. Lieutenant Dick Buckland, one of the Wasp observers, cruised into this area on his sailboard and was promptly ordered out - with much blowing of whistles and pointing of rifles - by the sentries. Much more frightening was the experience of two leading ratings who inadvertently wandered into an unfenced military area one night when returning to their ship. The Endurance’s berth placed her nearly a mile from the bright lights of the city and the route took the ship’s company through a tightly patrolled security zone. It was easy, in the dark, to become lost. Tab Hunter and Nick Carter had enjoyed an excellent fish supper and were happily anticipating the comfort of their bunks when suddenly they were blinded by searchlights. Rifle shots cracked past their ears and they threw themselves flat. Armed guards quickly grabbed the two sailors, searched them thoroughly and emptied their pockets. Among the possessions taken from them were the ship’s identity cards - printed in English and Spanish - known as the ‘you can’t shoot me’ chitties.


After an hour in confinement, and having been interrogated by an officer waving a pistol in their faces, they succeeded in drawing attention to the chitties in their pile of personal effects. They were escorted back to the Endurance with a stern warning to be more careful in future’ (Operation Paraquat. The Battle for South Georgia, R. Perkins, refers).


For the full story of the Endurance’s significant role in the South Atlantic campaign, see the memoirs of her charismatic and outspoken skipper, the late Captain Nick Barker, R.N., entitled Beyond Endurance: An Epic of Whitehall and the South Atlantic; see, too, his detailed obituary in the Daily Telegraph, and Roger Perkins’ definitive history Operation Paraquat.


As the ‘sole regular bearer of the White Ensign south of the Equator’, the Endurance represented the only visible trace of British interests in the Falkland Islands being taken seriously, so when news was received that she was to be withdrawn and scrapped, Captain Barker took up the offensive with Whitehall. Fortuitously for British interests, he won a reprieve, and, as a consequence, his ship and his crew were able to play a crucial part in the capture of South Georgia and at the retaking of the outlying dependency of South Thule, and in an associated S.B.S. operation.


Barker, ‘who had a swashbuckling disregard of rules and regulations which was bound to annoy bureaucrats’, paid a heavy price for his intuitive and determined intervention into the world of diplomacy and politics, any promise of flag rank being effectively curtailed before the War even started. Equally upsetting was the fact that his C.B.E. was not announced until the October following the main Falklands Honours List, but by then his respect for such accolades had clearly dwindled. As he later remarked, on hearing that a formal Falklands inquiry was to be established, “Most of those who might be found culpable [for the invasion having taken place] have been knighted, promoted or decorated - or all three.”


Sold with two news cuttings, copied research and a later ‘H.M.S. Endurance’ cap tally. 726


The South Atlantic medal awarded to Weapons Engineering Mechanic (Radio) R. J. Mills, H.M.S. Sheffield, who survived the sinking of his ship when it was attacked by two Super Étendard fighter bombers on 4 May 1982


South Atlantic 1982, with rosette (WEM (R) R J Mills D183907R HMS Sheffield) minor official correction to ship, with named card box of issue, nearly extremely fine


£1,600-£2,000


At approximately 10 a.m. on 4 May 1982, H.M.S. Sheffield was at defence watches and on second degree readiness, as part of the British Task Force dispatched to the Falkland Islands - Sheffield had relieved her sister ship Coventry as the latter was having technical trouble with her radar. The two ships were chatting over the radio when communications suddenly ceased, followed by an unidentified message flatly stating "Sheffield is hit".


The flagship, Hermes dispatched the escorts Arrow and Yarmouth to investigate, and a helicopter was launched. Confusion reigned until Sheffield's Lynx helicopter unexpectedly landed aboard Hermes carrying the Air Operations Officer and Operations Officer, confirming the disaster. Sheffield had picked up the incoming missiles on her ancient radar system and the Operations Officer informed the Missile Director, who queried the contacts with the fire control system. The launch aircraft had not been detected as the British had expected, and it was not until smoke was sighted that the target was confirmed as sea skimming missiles. Five seconds later, an Exocet impacted Sheffield amidships, approximately 8 feet above the waterline on Deck 2, tearing a gash in the hull, whilst the other one splashed into the sea half a mile off her port beam.


The Exocets were fired from two Super Étendards launched from Río Grande, Tierra del Fuego, Naval Air Base. Piloted by Lieutenant Armando Mayora and Captain Augusto Bedacarratz, who commanded the mission. The M.O.D. report into the sinking of the Sheffield concluded that, ‘Evidence indicates that the Warhead did not detonate’. Some of the crew and members of the Task Force believe however that the missile's 165 kilogram warhead did in fact detonate upon impact. Regardless, the impact of the missile and the burning rocket motor set Sheffield ablaze. Accounts suggest that the initial impact of the missile immediately crippled the ship's onboard electricity generating systems and fractured the water main, preventing the anti-fire mechanisms from operating effectively, and thereby dooming the ship to be consumed by the raging fire.


After the ship was struck, her crew, waiting to be rescued, sang "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" from Monty Python's Life of Brian. The burnt-out hulk was taken in tow by the Rothesay class frigate H.M.S. Yarmouth but sank at 53°04'S, 56°56' W on 10 May 1982; high seas led to slow flooding through the hole in the ships side which eventually took her to the bottom. This made her the first Royal Navy vessel sunk in action in almost forty years. Twenty of her crew (mainly on duty in the Galley-area) died during the attack and another 24 injured. Of the 242 survivors many, like WEM Mills, never got over their horrific experience and were medically discharged at a later date. The wreck is a war grave and designated as a protected place under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.


Raymond John Mills was born at Plymouth, Devon, on 14 June 1955. He joined the Royal Navy as a Weapons Engineering Mechanic, for 12 years on 25 March 1980. He was discharged with ‘Exemplary Conduct’ as an Acting Leading Weapons Engineering Mechanic, at H.M.S. Drake, Devonport, on 1 October 1984, being ‘physically unfit for Naval service.’


Sold with copied R.N. Certificate of Service confirming South Atlantic medal, an original photograph of Mills in tropical whites on board Sheffield at Diego Garcia just prior to the Falklands campaign, and a later ‘H.M.S. Sheffield’ cap tally.


all lots are illustrated on our website www.dnw.co.uk and are subject to buyers’ premium at 20% (+VAT where applicable)


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