Great War Pacific Ocean Battle of Coronel 1 November 1914 loss of the armoured cruiser Monmouth casualty group awarded to Leading Cook’s Mate S.W. Bray, Royal Navy. From Plymouth, Devon, he saw service from April 1910 onwards, and with the outbreak of the war was put aboard the armoured cruiser Monmouth, that was assigned to the 5th Cruiser Squadron in the Central Atlantic to search for German commerce raiders and protect Allied shipping. Monmouth was then ordered to the South Atlantic to join Rear Admiral Christopher Craddock’s squadron in their search for the German East Asia Squadron. At the Battle of Coronel on 1 November 1914, Monmouth was lost with all hands after capturing whilst engaged with the German light cruiser Nurnberg. She capsized, having already been hit earlier in the action by the battleship Gniesenau, which had blown the roof off Monmouth's forward turret and started a fire, causing an ammunition explosion that completely blew the turret off the ship. Listing with a 10 degree list and down by the bow, having extinguished her fires, she was closed by Nurnberg, which tried to get Monmouth to surrender by firing warning shots. As Nürnberg closed the range, Monmouth's list increased so that none of the guns on her port side could be used. Monmouth then increased speed and turned towards Nürnberg, which caused her to open fire again. Monmouth capsized at 21:58, taking her entire crew of 734 men with her as the seas were too rough to attempt any rescue effort.
Trio and Plaque: 1914-1915 Star; (M.1852. S.W. BRAY. L. CK. MTE. R.N.); British War Medal and Victory Medal; (M.1852 S.W. BRAY. L. CK. MTE. R.N.); Memorial Plaque named to; (SIDNEY WILLIAM BRAY)
Condition: some marking from tape, Good Very Fine.
Sydney William Bray was born on 12 March 1890 in Plymouth, Devon, and having worked as a labourer, then joined the Royal Navy as a Probationary 2nd Cook’s Mate (Devonport No.M.1852) with Vivid I from 30 April 1910, and was confirmed as a 2nd Cook’s Mate on 8 July 1910. Having joined the battleship Colossus, he was rated as Acting Leading Cook’s Mate on 6 October 1913, and was back with Vivid I when confirmed as a Leading Cook’s Mate on 18 December 1913.
Around the outbreak of the Great War he joined the armoured cruiser Monmouth on 31 July 1914, she being assigned to the 5th Cruiser Squadron in the Central Atlantic to search for German commerce raiders and protect Allied shipping. She was detached upon arrival to patrol the Brazilian coast for German ships, and was later ordered to the South Atlantic to join Rear Admiral Christopher Craddock’s squadron in their search for the German East Asia Squadron. At the end of September, Cradock made his first fruitless search of the Tierra del Fuego area and later detached Monmouth and two other ships to search up the Chilean coast, reaching Valparaiso on 15 October, while his flagship, Good Hope returned to Port Stanley, in the Falkland Islands, to re-coal and to reestablish communications with the Admiralty. He received word on 7 October that German Vice Admiral Spee’s ships were definitely bound for the Cape Horn region and waited for the elderly battleship Canopus to reinforce his squadron. She was in poor mechanical condition when she arrived at Port Stanley and required time to make repairs. Good Hope sailed on 22 October without her, going around Cape Horn, while Canopus and three colliers departed the following day, taking the shorter route through the Strait of Magellan.
Good Hope rendezvoused with the rest of the squadron at Vallenar Roads, in the remote Chonos Archipelago of Chile on 27 October 1914 to recoal. They departed two days later, just as Canopus arrived, Cradock ordering the battleship to follow as soon as possible. He sent the light cruiser Glasgow to scout ahead and to enter Coronal, Chile to pick up any messages from the Admiralty and acquire intelligence regarding German activities. The cruiser began to pick up German radio signals from the light cruiser SMS Leipzig on the afternoon of 29 October, and delayed entering Coronel for two days with Cradock's permission to avoid being trapped by the fast German ships. A German supply ship was already there and radioed Spee that Glasgow had entered the harbour around twilight. The cruiser departed on the morning of 1 November, but Spee had already made plans to catch her when informed of her presence the previous evening.
Glasgow departed Coronel at 09:15 after having picked up the squadron's mail, and rendezvoused with the rest of the squadron four hours later. Cradock ordered his ships to form line abreast with a distance of 15 nautical miles between ships to maximise visibility at 13:50 and steered north at a speed of 10 knots. At 16:17 Leipzig spotted Glasgow, the easternmost British ship, to its west and she spotted Leipzig's funnel smoke three minutes later. At 17:10 Cradock ordered his ships to head for Glasgow, the closest ship to the Germans. Once gathered together, he formed them into line astern, with Good Hope in the lead, steering southeasterly at 16 knots at 18:18. As the sixteen 21-centimetre (8.3in) guns aboard the armoured cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were only matched by the two 9.2-inch guns on his flagship, he needed to close the range to bring his more numerous 6-inch guns to bear. The Force 7 winds and high seas, however, prevented the use of half of those guns as they were too close to the water. He also wanted to use the setting sun to his advantage so that its light would blind the German gunners. Spee was well aware of the British advantages and refused to allow Cradock to close the range. His ships were faster than the British, slowed by the 16-knot maximum speed of the armed merchant cruiser Otranto, and he opened up the range to 18,000 yards until conditions changed to suit him. The sun set at 18:50, which silhouetted the British ships against the light sky while the German ships became indistinguishable from the shoreline behind them.
Spee immediately turned to close and signalled his ships to open fire at 19:04, when the range closed to 12,300 yards (11,200m). Spee's flagship, Scharnhorst, engaged Good Hope while Gneisenau fired at Monmouth. The German shooting was very accurate, with both armoured cruisers quickly scoring hits on their British counterparts while still outside six-inch gun range, starting fires on both ships. Cradock, knowing his only chance was to close the range, continued to do so despite the battering that Spee's ships inflicted. By 19:23 the range was almost half of that when the battle began and the British ships bore onwards. One shell from Gneisenau blew the roof off Monmouth's forward turret and started a fire, causing an ammunition explosion that completely blew the turret off the ship. Spee tried to open the range, fearing a torpedo attack, but the British were only 5,500 yards (5,000m) away at 19:35. Severely damaged, Monmouth began to slow and veered out of line.
Glasgow fought almost an entirely separate battle as the German armoured cruisers ignored her almost completely and she inconclusively duelled the light cruisers Leipzig and Dresden. Glasgow broke contact with the German squadron at 20:05 and discovered Monmouth, listing and down by the bow, having extinguished her fires, 10 minutes later. She was trying to turn north to put her stern to the heavy northerly swell and was taking water at the bow. There was little that Glasgow could do to assist the larger ship as the moonlight illuminated both ships and the Germans were searching for them.
The light cruiser Nurnberg had been trailing the German squadron and spotted the plume of smoke from Glasgow at 20:35, and then saw Monmouth with a 10-degree list to port shortly afterwards. As Nürnberg closed the range, Monmouth's list increased so that none of the guns on her port side could be used. The German cruiser closed to within 600 yards (550m) and illuminated her flag with its spotlight in the hopes that she would strike her colours and surrender. There was no response from the British ship and Nürnberg opened fire at 21:20, aiming high, but there was still no response. The German ship then fired a torpedo which missed and turned off its searchlight. Monmouth then increased speed and turned towards Nürnberg, which caused her to open fire again. Monmouth capsized at 21:58, taking her entire crew of 734 men with her as the seas were too rough to attempt any rescue effort.
Leading Cook’s Mate Bray is confirmed as having been on of the entire crew of Monmouth to loose his life when she capsized during the Battle of Coronal on 1 November 1914, and having no known grave he is commemorated by name on the Plymouth Naval Memorial. Aged 24 at the time of his death, he was the son of John Richard and Florence Elizabeth Bray of 7 Harwell Street, Plymouth
