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: Lusitania interest - the superb and highly interesting group of medals awarded to Commander William
Thomas Turner OBE RNR, Captain of the RMS Lusitania when it was sunk by a German Submarine in May
1915. Medals OBE (silver hallmarked 1917), Transport Medal with S.Africa 1899-1902 clasp (W T Turner),
1915 Star Trio (Commr W T Turner RNR), and silver Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society Medal (Wm
T Turner 4th off'cr SS City of Chester for Jumping into the Alexandra Dock and Rescuing a Boy Apl 7/1883).
He was born in Liverpool, serving under his father’s command on the Queen of the Nations. While serving
on the Cherborg, Turner gained recognition for personally rescuing a man and a boy who had fallen in the
water after the Alice Davies was wrecked in a collision with the Cherborg. He later rescued a 14 year old boy
from the Alexandra Dock (medal with group), and he received an illuminated scroll from the Liverpool
Shipwreck and Humane Society for rescuing the crew of the Vague in 1897. During the Boer War he was
Chief Officer of the Umbria. He received another Illuminated Scroll from the L.S.& H.S. upon rescuing the
crew of the West Point in 1910. In 1915 when the Lusitania was sinking, Turner ordered survivors evacuated,
believing himself to be the last person on board he climbed the halyards to keep from being washed away and
to remain with his ship till the end. Eventually he clung to a floating wooden oar and then a chair, as the ship
sank beneath him. It was only later to his horror that he discovered that some had remained on board and were
sucked under when the ship sank completely. After the sinking an Admiralty inquiry in which Winston
Churchill was directly involved, exonerated him, however the charges haunted him for the rest of his life. He
also survived the sinking of the SS Ivernia in 1916 which was torpedoed by a German U-Boat off the Greek
coast. One of his sons AB Percey Wilfred Turner was lost at sea when M.V.Jedmoor was sunk by U-98 on 16th
Sept 1941. VF-GVF (6)
£25,000 - £30,000