William Edward Sanders
Encyclopedia
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
, DSO
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
(7 February 1883 - 14 August 1917) was a New Zealander recipient of the Victoria Cross
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
forces.
Born in Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
on 7 February 1883 to Edward Helman Cook Sanders and his wife Emma Jane Sanders, née Wilson, Sanders was a highly experienced and intelligent sailor, having worked on steam and sailing ships since 1899, when he worked as a cabin boy aboard the Kotiti.
In 1906 he joined the NZGSS Hinemoa
NZGSS Hinemoa
NZGSS Hinemoa was a 542 ton New Zealand Government Service Steamer designed specifically for lighthouse support and servicing, and also patrolled New Zealand's coastline and carried out castaway checks and searched for missing ships. It operated in New Zealand's territorial waters from 1876 to...
, followed by the Aparima, another steamer, before transferring to sailing ships with the Craig Line. After taking his mate's certificates, he was aboard the Joseph Craig, which foundered on the Hokianga
Hokianga
Hokianga is an area surrounding the Hokianga Harbour, also known as The Hokianga River, a long estuarine drowned valley on the west coast in the north of the North Island of New Zealand....
bar 7 August 1914.
During the early part of the war, he spent a year as a Merchant Navy
Merchant Navy
The Merchant Navy is the maritime register of the United Kingdom, and describes the seagoing commercial interests of UK-registered ships and their crews. Merchant Navy vessels fly the Red Ensign and are regulated by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency...
officer on the troopships Moeraki and Willochra. He rapidly became bored with this service, and in June 1915 Sanders was gazetted an acting lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
in the Royal Naval Reserve
Royal Naval Reserve
The Royal Naval Reserve is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. The present Royal Naval Reserve was formed in 1958 by merging the original Royal Naval Reserve and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve , a reserve of civilian volunteers founded in 1903...
. It was in this rank and position that he served until 1916, when he was granted a position on a Q ship operating against German submarines in the Western Approaches
Western Approaches
The Western Approaches is a rectangular area of the Atlantic ocean lying on the western coast of Great Britain. The rectangle is higher than it is wide, the north and south boundaries defined by the north and south ends of the British Isles, the eastern boundary lying on the western coast, and the...
. He was first given the Helgoland, but in February 1917, when he was 34 years old, he was put in command of the Prize, a German sailing barque seized in 1914 and now employed as a lure against submarines.
On 30 April 1917 about 180 miles south of Ireland, in the Atlantic, Lieutenant Sanders was in command of HMS Prize
HMS Prize
At least one ship of the Royal Navy has been named HMS Prize including a Q-ship of World War I; see William Edward Sanders....
, a three-masted topsail schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
(one of the Q ships) when she was attacked by German U-boat and badly damaged by shellfire. After the 'panic party' had taken to the boats and the ship appeared to be sinking, the U-boat approached to within 80 yards of her port quarter, whereupon the White Ensign
White Ensign
The White Ensign or St George's Ensign is an ensign flown on British Royal Navy ships and shore establishments. It consists of a red St George's Cross on a white field with the Union Flag in the upper canton....
was hoisted and the Prize opened fire. Within a few minutes the submarine was on fire and her bows rose in the air, whilst the Prize was further damaged. The U-boat disappeared from sight, and was believed to have been sunk by the crew of the Prize and by several of the German crew (including her captain) who had been blown or jumped into the sea.
Amazingly, neither of the crippled ships had sunk, with the Prize being towed in flames back to Kinsale
Kinsale
Kinsale is a town in County Cork, Ireland. Located some 25 km south of Cork City on the coast near the Old Head of Kinsale, it sits at the mouth of the River Bandon and has a population of 2,257 which increases substantially during the summer months when the tourist season is at its peak and...
, while the U-93 struggled back to the Sylt
Sylt
Sylt is an island in northern Germany, part of Nordfriesland district, Schleswig-Holstein, and well known for the distinctive shape of its shoreline. It belongs to the North Frisian Islands and is the largest island in North Frisia...
nine days later after a dramatic escape effort through the British mine and destroyer barrages off Dover
Dover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...
. Four months later the Prize was lost, when patrolling with the British submarine D-9 in the same area. In this instance, the spotted the ships and was attacked in a very similar manner to her compatriot. Her captain had been warned by the survivors of U-93, and so did not engage too closely, instead, firing two torpeodes into the fragile Prize, blowing her to pieces. Rescue craft were unable to find a trace of her crew when they arrived in the area, long after the U-boat had escaped.
Thus was Lieutenant (later Lieutenant-Commander) Sanders killed in action, at sea in the Atlantic near southern Ireland, on 14 August 1917, along with his entire crew. In June 1918, Sanders' father received his son's V.C. and DSO from the Governor-General of New Zealand
Governor-General of New Zealand
The Governor-General of New Zealand is the representative of the monarch of New Zealand . The Governor-General acts as the Queen's vice-regal representative in New Zealand and is often viewed as the de facto head of state....
at Auckland Town Hall.
There are many memorials to Sanders, including an exhibit of photographs and his citations at Takapuna Primary School, which he attended, a bronze tablet in the church at Milford Haven, the home port of the Prize, and The Sanders Memorial Scholarship at the University of Auckland for children of members of the Royal Navy or the Mercantile Marine. The best-known memorial is the Sanders Cup for interprovincial competition between 14–ft centerboard X-class yachts, still contested to this day.
External links
- New Zealand Troops who have won the Victoria Cross (brief biography details)
- Encyclopedia of New Zealand article
- Cruises of the New Zealand Government Steamer Hinemoa 1906 - Scan of diary kept by Sanders whilst on the vessel.