A well documented Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. Civil, awarded to Captain Malcolm Elliott Cogle, Merchant Navy, a veteran of the Great War, he was decorated for meritorious service in the Merchant Navy and was at the time in command of the Merchant Vessell Pacific Enterprise. His impeccable maritime career was undone when his ship ran aground off the coast of America on his final voyage before retirement.
Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. Civil, in its Royal Mint presentation case.
Condition: Extremely Fine.
O.B.E. Civil London Gazette 9 Jan 1967. Captain Malcolm Elliott Cogle, Master, MV Pacific Enterprise, Furnes Withy & Company Ltd.
Sold with a most impressive selection of original related material, including the named Buckingham Palace forwarding slip for the O.B.E.; outer card board box for the OBE with instruction card for wearing; pencil drawn sketch of the recipient in uniform and cap by B. Halstone; framed and glazed O.B.E. Warrant; Central Chancery forwarding letter for the O.B.E. Warrant; four original photos of the recipient in uniform; ink signed letter from Sir Cyril Hurcomb, Director general of the Ministry of War Transport congratulating him on the award for the O.B.E. for meritorious service in the Merchant Navy. Together with numerous newspaper cuttings relating to his career and the grounding of the MV Pcific Enterprise.
Malcolm Elliott Cogle served for over 40 years in the Merchant Navy and in addition to a Mercantile Marine War Medal and British War Medal for his WW1 service, he is also entitled to the 1939-45 Star, Atlantic Star and WW2 War Medal for his WW2 service. Ibn 8 October, 1943, he was quoted in the Evening Standard which was reporting on his maritime career to date that, I’ve never seen a U-Boat and when the Huns bombed me they could do nothing better than a near miss.”
It was not until after hostilities and on his last voyage that his luck was jinxed, when he ran the MV Pcific Enterprise hard aground off Point Arena lighthouse on the coast of California.
Cogle retired from the Merchant Navy after this incedent and went on to live the ripe old age of 91.
