The B.E.M. and D.S.M. with part campaign group to Chief Petty Officer Writer William Charles Bond,

The B.E.M. and D.S.M. with part campaign group to Chief Petty Officer Writer William Charles Bond, Royal Navy, who was awarded the D.S.M. for the action between H.M.S. Alcantara and S.M.S. Greif in 1916: The Medal of the Order of the British Empire for Meritorious Service (British Empire Medal), George VI, GRI cypher (C.P.O. WR. WILLIAM C. BOND, D.S.M., P/MX. 5731), in case of issue, extremely fine; Distinguished Service Medal, George V (M.10262. W. C. F. BOND, 3RD. WR. H.M.S. ALCANTARA. 29. FEB. 1916), very fine or nearly so; 1914-15 Star (350523, W. C. BOND. S.B.S., R.N.), good very fine or better; Victory Medal (350523 W. C. BOND. CH. S.B.S. R.N.), good very fine, [4]; together with a collection of associated items including the recipient's journal with notes on the sinking of S.M.S. Greif by the Alcantara, press cuttings, correspondence, an ALCANTARA cap tally, a portrait photograph of the recipient, two of the recipient's warrants, a silver presentation tankard to the recipient from the officers of H.M.S. Europa (C.J. Vander Ltd., London 1945) and other items.

B.E.M. London Gazette 11/07/1940
D.S.M. London Gazette 20/06/1916

William Charles Bond was born in Portsmouth on the 7th of September 1896 and he joined the Royal Navy in November 1914. In 1916 he was serving as Third Class Writer in H.M.S. Alcantara, an armed merchant cruiser employed in the naval blockade of Germany. On the 28th of February, Admiral Jellicoe was made aware that a German commerce raider had entered the North Sea accompanied by a U-Boat and he deployed vessels to intercept her. In the previous month Britain had lost the battleship H.M.S. King Edward VII to mines laid by a similar enemy ship, S.M.S. Möwe, which had gone on to sink several allied merchant vessels, and preventing the new threat - S.M.S. Greif - from escaping into open seas was of great importance. On the 29th of February the Alcantara encountered Greif, disguised as a Norwegian merchantman, northeast of the Shetland Islands, and made preparations for boarding her. A surprise attack from Grief initiated a ferocious gun battle in which both ships were sunk. The battered Alcantara developed a heavy list prior to sinking and William Bond observed a badly wounded marine on the lee side. In spite of having a hernia he slid down the deck to assist and, being unable to drag the man up the sloping deck to the raised side, he helped him off the lower side before following him into the frigid water to take care of him. Leaving a capsizing and sinking ship in this manner is extremely dangerous and Bond's courageous and selfless act was observed by the Alacantara's commander Captain Thomas Wardle, who recommended him for the D.C.M. Bond had already performed a valuable service of another kind by securing the ship's ledger in its special watertight container and for some time afterwards he was uncertain which deed had resulted in the award.

Although he had originally enlisted "for [the] period of hostilities" William Bond went on to have a naval career that spanned both World Wars, and in 1940 he was awarded the B.E.M. "in recognition of services during the war". In addition to the medals offered here he was awarded the British War Medal 1914-20 and the R.N. L.S.G.C. medal.