The information and photo in this post are taken from:
Lieutenant John Charles Orr
The following is a record of the heroism
displayed by Lieutenant John Charles Orr (formerly of our Ladysmith branch),
when the Elder Dempster liner "Burutu" sank in mid-ocean, with a loss
of 150 lives, after collision with another liner.
For the part played by him in this
occurrence, Lieutenant Orr has been awarded the Board of Trade Silver Medal.
"Fuller details of the sinking of the
Elder Dempster liner 'Burutu' after collision with another liner, with the loss
of over 150 lives, were given by one of the few survivors yesterday. The inky
blackness of the night, the heavy list of the vessel, and the high seas running
made launching and rescue work impossible.
One lifeboat got away successfully containing the main body of the
survivors. Another boat was being launched full of passengers, but descended to
the top of a raft full of people which had drifted in again and all were upset
and drowned.
“A survivor said yesterday, ‘I and five
others clung on desperately throughout the night to an upturned boat. It was
bitter cold, with an icy wind blowing, and I was clad only in silk pyjamas. One of our party was a little steward of
15. He was having a bath at the time of the collision, and came up on deck of
the sinking vessel naked and dived into the water.
“We pulled him on our upturned boat and a
powerful young subaltern wrapped his British warm around him and held him and another
unconscious passenger in his arms for hours, but the lad died from exhaustion
and was washed off the frail craft a few minutes afterwards. Another went mad
during the night and jumped into the sea and was lost, and another died. The
subaltern joked and cheered the remainder until daylight, when the three
remaining were rescued by an American destroyer. While alongside the destroyer
the little boat drifted towards the propeller and was smashed by the blades but
the subaltern managed to grasp a rope and was pulled safely aboard.”
“The young subaltern referred to was
Lieut. Orr. He and the two saved, one an officer returning from a period of
service as a Political Agent in Nigeria, the other the fifth engineer of the ‘Burutu’,
received royal treatment on the destroyer and were landed at an English port.
When the captain of the destroyer heard from the officer the details of Lieut.
Orr’s achievement he assembled the ship’s company and addressing them said he
wanted them to be inspired by the splendid heroism of the young British officer
and, if occasion offered, to imitate his magnificent unselfishness and
resource. What makes Lieut. Orr’s action all the more meritorious is the fact
that he himself was an invalid, having been sent to England suffering from
malaria after almost a year’s service with the Gold Coast Regiment in the heart
of the West African bush. (He had previously been twice wounded, once at Neuve
Chapelle when serving as a sergeant in the First Canadian Contingent, and again
on July 1st on the Somme, when he was an officer in the Ulster
Division)."
“The scene may be given in the words of
the officer from Nigeria: “The destroyer people threw us a rope with a buoy to
it. I could only put one arm through, being nearly done. The ubiquitous Orr
pulled my other arm through and I was pulled up like a lump of meat with about
as much life as one. The fifth engineer was the next to go up, tied on somehow,
of course, by Orr. And then the worst catastrophe of the affair just didn’t
happen. The boat drifted behind the destroyer and the propeller cut it in half.
Thank God, Orr had a rope and shinned up it in time and walked below as fresh
as paint, having had about eight hours of as bad, cold and wet a time as any
one could expect, and spending that time in looking after us, not himself.”
We also quote a letter received by Mr. Orr
from the Secretary of State for the
Colonies:
“I am directed by Mr. Secretary Long to
inform you that he has received from the Secretary to the Admiralty, through
the War Office, a copy of a report by the Commanding Officer, United Ship ‘Stevens’, on your gallant
behaviour in connection with the rescue of survivors from the S.S. ‘Burutu’ on
the night of October 3rd-4th. The Army Council have asked
that an expression of their appreciation of the devoted service which you
rendered on this occasion may be conveyed to you. Mr Long has pleasure in
associating himself with the Council’s commendation.”
Lieutenant J.C. Orr enlisted 4th August 1914 from the Ladysmith B.C. branch.
The following information is taken from the Medal Index Card for John Charles Orr
as you can see, there are a lot of different roll numbers, noted of medals returned (?) and duplicates (?) which is all a bit confusing to me but it seems that the trio of medals were issued with his various regiments on them. It may be that he had a duplicate star issued in 1921, which was returned from Canada then all three were issued in 1924 possibly to an address in Ireland? See what you can make of it...
John Charles Orr
Canadian Field Artillery, Corporal, 40695
Imperial Army
Royal Irish Rifles Lieutenant
Medals:
Victory Medal - Royal Irish Rifles roll OFF 54 page 7D
British Medal - " " " "
15 Star - roll Ex Dom/1/3 page 2
On R&F Roll Ex Dom / 101B page 47
Commd
15 star, BW&VM - IXV 1381 d=28.10.24 NW/3/3414
Dup star issued off can. Supp. Roll 12/298
retd by Can Auth C.Rv. 481d/28.11.21 E7/9/4422
Theatre of War - (1) France
Qualifying date - 2.3.15
NW/3/3414
E.F.G retd d 10.7.24
Address 11 Clarence Avenue, Londonderry
source: ancestry.co.uk
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