A Second World War C.B.E., Second World War D.S.O. and Great War D.S.C. group of twelve to Commodore D A Casey, Royal Naval Reserve,

Footnotes

C.B.E. London Gazette 1.1.1942.

Awarded for co-ordinating port facilities in the Poole, Weymouth sea lanes at the time of Dunkirk.

D.S.O. London Gazette 21.7.1942

Awarded for bravery, seamanship and resolution in bringing the convoy through to Murmansk in the face of relentless and determined attacks by enemy aircraft and U boats.

D.S.C. London Gazette 25.10.1916. In recognition of services in submarines in enemy waters.

Commodore D.A.Casey was born on 25.10.1889 in Clonmel, County Tipperary, his father was the bank manager for the Bank of Ireland in Clonmel and was eventually sent to work in Dublin where he then went to a local Dublin school, shortly after he was then sent to St.George's, Weybridge. At sixteen he joined the Merchant Training Ship HMS Conway. He passed out from there in second place. He joined the shipping firm Robinsons who specialised in trade with Chile. He joined the R.N.R. staying with it until 1968. When WW1 broke out he reported to the sbmarine base in Gosport. He stayed with the submarine service throughout WW1 either in submarines or as Navigator in the destroyer HMS Trident and HMS Ithuriel.

After the war he returned to the Royal Mail Lines, running from the UK to the East Coast of South America. In 1936 he became Marine Superintendent at Southampton running the whole of the sea going operation of the Royal Mail Lines. He had been promoted to Captain in the RNR, and when war was declared joined up full time. He was given the task of supervising all sea-going traffic in the Weymouth and Poole area. His biggest challenge was trying to arrange berths for all the ships that returned back from Dunkirk.

His expertise with his peacetime role was used with the convoys that were coming over, he was promoted to Ocean Commodore. In total he sailed with over 19 convoys mainly across the Atlantic, one being from Scotland to Murmansk. This involved 60 ships and they had to avoid air attacks from off the coast of Norway, and were also shadowed by a U boat, successful weaving among icebergs made it impossible for the U Boat to attack. He went to India on 1st December 1944 as Deputy Sea transport Delhi, he was released on 17th July 1947 as rank of Commodore.

He was later promoted to RNR ADC to King George VI. He had met the king before when as a Midshipman they both went on the submarine K3, the submarine on a test run ended up hitting the seabed and a number of the crew went flying, it took 20 minutes for the submarine to be freed and in dry dock gravel had to be dug out of the torpedo tubes. He retired from the Royal Mail Lines in 1949, with the rank of Commodore as Captain of their flagship "Andes". He had moved to the Isle of Wight in in 1942 and to Ryde in the 1950's. He died on the 20th July 1968

The lot comes with a variety of original paperwork and research as follows: Framed certificate for the CBE, Framed certificate for the D.S.O.; Log Book of Convoys; Special Certificates from School Ship HMS Conway (4); Birth Certificate; Ordinary Apprentice's Indenture; Warrant for appointment to Sub Lieutenant RNR, dated 3.3.1915; Certificate of Competency as Extra Master dated 9.9.1918; Photographs (3), and a variety of minor paperwork, newspaper cuttings and general research and ephemera, including an article from the Daily Express dated 25.7.1942 where his service is covered.