Great War casualty 1914-1915 Star trio awarded to Greaser H.P. Burns, Merchant Fleet Auxiliary who died on 28th April 1917 aboard H.M.S. Himalaya whilst a member of the Mercantile Marine Reserve, he is buried in Cape Town (Maitland) Cemetery.
Group of 3: 1914-1915 Star; (H.P. BURNS, GSR., M.F.A.) British War Medal and Victory Medal; (H.P. BURNS. GSR. M.F.A.)
Condition: Good Very Fine
H.P. Burns saw service as Greaser with the Merchant Fleet Auxiliary and died whilst attached to H.M.S. Himalaya as a member of the Mercantile Marine Reserve on 28th April 1917 being buried in Cape Town (Maitland) Cemetery.
In August 1914 Himalaya was in Hong Kong when the Admiralty requisitioned her. She was converted there and fitted with eight QF 4.7 inch guns as her primary armament. She was commissioned as HMS Himalaya, with the pennant number M.67. She then patrolled the China Seas, and kept watch for German cargo ships such as colliers in neutral Manila trying to reach and supply the Imperial German Navy's East Asia Squadron. She also patrolled the Red Sea, and in February 1915 she helped to repel an Ottoman raid on the Suez Canal. In September 1915 she was recalled to the UK. On 11 April 1916 Himalaya was recommissioned in Canada Dock in Liverpool. On 20 April she left Canada Dock, and the next day she left Liverpool. She sailed via St Vincent and Saint Helena to Simon's Town Naval Base in South Africa, where she arrived on 16 May.
There she was fitted with an aircraft deck, and her 4.7-inch guns were replaced with QF 6-inch naval guns. Himalaya took part in the East African Campaign from June 1916 until April 1917. On 1 June 1916 she left Simon's Town for Durban, where she embarked troops. On 17 June she left Durban, and on 21 June the Admiralty bought her from P&O. On 23 June she disembarked her troops at Kilindini in British East Africa. The next day she reached the British protectorate of Zanzibar, where she took on a seaplane and bunkered. On 26 June, 31 seedies joined her crew. From 28 June 1916 Himalaya operated from Zanzibar along the coast of German East Africa. She patrolled the coast, her seaplane provided aerial reconnaissance, and her 6-inch guns contributed to the bombardment of German positions ashore. As a former passenger ship, Himalaya was also well-equipped to carry food and bake bread for British and Empire forces ashore. On 6 August 1916, Himalaya bombarded Dar es Salaam railway station. Before dawn on 15 August 1916 a Royal Navy flotilla attacked Bagamoyo, bombarding German positions there and landing more than 300 troops and armed sailors to capture the town. The flotilla included the auxiliary ship HMS Manica, which carried both a kite balloon and a seaplane. But Manica's seaplane suffered an engine fault, so at 0553 hrs Himalaya left Zanzibar and steamed for Bagamoyo. At 0725 hrs she stopped to launch her seaplane, which flew ahead the last 20 nautical miles (37 km) or so to Bagamoyo, dropped bombs on German positions, and then provided aerial observations to direct the naval bombardment. At 0854 hrs Himalaya reached the flotilla off Bagamoyo, and her port guns joined in the bombardment.
On 18 August Himalaya bombarded the coastal town of Mikindani, under the direction of her seaplane. On 3 September the German authorities surrendered Dar es Salaam to British forces. On 13 September Himalaya returned to Mikindani carrying Royal Marines, who went ashore by boat and took the town without resistance. On 16 September she did the same at Lindi.
From 21 November until 5 December 1916 Himalaya shuttled troops from Zanzibar, Kilindini and Tanga to Kilwa Kisiwani and Dar es Salaam, including men of the King's African Rifles.
On the morning of 6 January 1917 a Short Brothers seaplane took off from Himalaya for a reconnaissance flight over the Rufiji Delta. The aircraft failed to return, so Himalaya embarked a replacement seaplane and aircrew from HMS Manica.
The missing seaplane had suffered engine failure so its pilot, Flt Lt Edwin Moon, made a forced landing in a creek. He and his observer, Cdr the Hon Richard Bridgeman, DSO, were unable to repair the aircraft, so they burned it and set off for the coast. The two airmen made and used a raft, which on 9 January was swept out to sea. Bridgeman was swept off the raft and Moon was unable to rescue him. A change of tide then swept the raft back to land, where Askari Schutztruppe captured Moon. He spent the remainder of hostilities as a prisoner of war. After the war, Moon was made a DSO for his bravery.
On 29 January 1917 Himalaya left Lindi. She bunkered at Durban, and was in Simon's Town from 10 February. On 20 February an accident caused the death of a chief gunner, Joseph Elliott. An inquest was held two days later, followed by an inquiry the next day. Elliott is buried at Simon's Town.
Himalaya left Simon's Town on 7 March, bunkered again at Cape Town, and then patrolled via Beira in Portuguese Mozambique and Dar es Salaam to Zanzibar, where she arrived on 3 April. On 8 April she left Zanzibar and returned via Dar es Salaam, Beira and Durban to Cape Town, where she arrived on 24 April with Burns dying three days later.
