Groups and Single Decorations for Gallantry
Everyone on board behaved excellently, with the exception of the Arab Firemen who left the stokehold when they heard the first shots. The Master put up a gallant fight for two hours, although his gun was outranged and only ceased fire in order to get his boats away as he himself and twenty-one others had been killed or wounded. He then remained on board with the Senior Gunner, with the idea of keeping his gun in action to the last. His conduct during the whole action was most courageous. The behaviour of the two Gunners, who were both wounded also appears to have been most praiseworthy. I am to inform you that the King has been pleased to approve of the award of the Distinguished Service Cross to Captain Hughes in recognition of his gallant behaviour. The First Officer (Thomas Jenkins), First Engineer (Kenneth John Henderson), and the two Gunners (Acting Lance Corporal J. W. Phillips, R.M.L.I. ON.7349 (P.O.) and Private G. W. Thorne, R.M.L.I. ON.3049/P.O. will be “commended” in the London Gazette.’
The story of the fight between, a British merchant steamer and a German submarine was graphically told at Plymouth on the arrival of Captain Robert Hughes, of Criccieth, North Wales; Chief Engineer Kenneth Henderson, and 35 members of the crew of the London steamer Woodfield in the London Daily News of 7 February 1916:
‘The Woodfield, which is a steamer of 3584 tons, had an uneventful voyage until the vessel was 40 miles to the eastward of Gibraltar. The weather was fine and clear when, shortly before daybreak on November 3, a German submarine was sighted. The enemy signalled for the Woodfield to stop, but far from giving in without an effort to escape, Captain Hughes increased speed and endeavoured to get away from the enemy craft. A long chase commenced. The Woodfield got the submarine under her stern, and headed away with all speed. A gun which was mounted on her poop was manned by members of the crew. The Germans fired at her. The first shot fell short, and then, getting closer, the submarine fired again, and this time the shell flew over the steamer. Trouble at this stage commenced with the Arab firemen of the Woodfield, who gave way to panic, and refused to stay at the furnace. Mr. Henderson himself went into the deserted stokehold, and, with other members of his staff, maintained the fires. Meanwhile there were exciting incidents on deck. The Germans with their third shot found the range, and, discreetly keeping outside the range of the Woodfield's only gun, bombarded the ship. One shell penetrated the side of the vessel, went through the bunkers, and exploded against a bulkhead in the stokehold. It threw up a cloud of coal dust which nearly smothered the chief engineer and his plucky assistants, but fortunately caused them no injury on the bridge. Captain Hughes was twice hit by shell; once in the shoulder, and again in the right leg, whilst he had a wonderful escape from a shell which killed the ship's carpenter. The two were standing together, Captain Hughes with his hand on the shoulder of the carpenter, when a shell tore away a portion of his coat and carried away a portion of the carpenter's skull. The mate was standing on another portion of the deck clinging to the meat safe, when a shell carried it bodily overboard, happily without injuring him. At last, after a running fight, which had lasted three hours, and when eight men had been killed and fourteen wounded, Captain Hughes considered that escape was hopeless. There were no signs of assistance from any quarter, so he very reluctantly gave the order to stop the engines. The boats were lowered. Four boats were got away, all the wounded being moved. The captain, who was the last to leave, with two other men, got on a small life raft, but, finding that this would not support all three, he very pluckily, despite the wounds from which he was suffering, dropped off and swam to one of the boats. Hitherto he had in the excitement not taken much account of his injuries, but the immersions in the bitterly cold water caused him intense pain, and he was suffering severely when hauled into the mate's boat. The Germans then torpedoed the Woodfield. The adventures of the men were not yet ended. There were 64 men in the four boats, which kept together during daylight. In the night, however, they became separated. The captain's and third mate's boats succeeded in making Perion, and another boat got to Alhucesas, a Spanish fort on the Moroccan coast, but the men of the fourth boat, landing on an exposed portion of the coast, were made prisoners by the Arabs, and a ransom was demanded for them. Three of these men escaped, and eventually reached Gibraltar. The others were ransomed, and after about three weeks the Spanish authorities managed to get all the men together, and they were taken to Malaga, where they were interned for what was to be the duration of the war. They were treated most hospitably, but eventually they succeeded in getting on board a steamer on the point of leaving the harbour and made their way to Gibraltar.’
The German U-boat captain turned out to be none other than the notorious Max Valentiner, otherwise known as ‘Mediterranean Max’. The remarkable story of the Woodfield was chosen by Lieut.-Commander E. Keeble Chatterton, the famous naval historian, as the first of a ‘new series of articles on Great Naval Dramas’, and was published in The People on Sunday, October 27, 1940. Unfortunately, in the lengthy article E. Keble Chatterton confused the true Captain of the ship with one ‘Capt. A. K. Jones’ which necessitated a letter of apology to be written to Captain Hughes on 11 November 1940, regretting his error.
Captain Robert Hughes died at his home ‘Woodfield’ at Criccieth on 17 October 1963. His obituary described him as a ‘retired master mariner and commodore captain, aged 85 years, who hailed from an old Portmadoc seafaring family and was the son of the late Captain John Hughes, of Portmadoc. ‘Prior to his retirement some 30 years ago, Captain Hughes commanded the steamships of Wood Taylors and Brown (sic) Shipping Company for 20 years during which the company promoted him to the rank of commodore captain. He also gave five years service with the Court Line.’ The obituary goes on to describe at length the epic episode of the Woodfield.
Sold with many original documents, including Royal Humane Society Honorary Testimonial on Vellum to Robert Hughes ‘for having on the 8th June 1895 gone to the rescue of John Williams who was in imminent danger of drowning at Portmadoc and whose life he gallantly assisted in saving’; two letter of congratulations from Portmadoc Urban District Council, dated 15 & 18 February 1916, for his ‘conspicuous gallantry’ and wishing him a speedy recovery from his injuries; original copy of the Admiralty letter dated 17 December 1918; letter from Woods Tylor & Brown, dated 18 March 1929, confirming his service with the Company from August 1907; letter from Haldin & Co. appointing Hughes to command of S.S. Pennington Court, 17 June 1929; letter of apology from E. Keble Chatterton, dated 11 November 1940, together with original news cuttings of his article; another letter from Haldin & Co., dated 2 July 1952, confirming his service in command of S.S. Pennington Court and S.S. Errington Court from June 1929 to July 1932; several contemporary news cuttings from 1916 giving various length accounts of the Woodfield’s exploits, one with a photograph of the survivors of the crew, including Hughes identified, interned at Melilla, Morocco; together with various ribbon bars and ribbons which indicate entitlement to 1939-45 Star, Atlantic Star, Africa Star, Pacific Star and War Medal.
For the M.B.E. attributed to his brother John Gwilym Hughes, a civil servant, see Lot 127.
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