A Messina Earthquake Medal 1908 / WW1 Group to Gunner / Lieutenant Frederick James Wood, Royal Navy, who was lost following the torpedoing of SS Zealandic on 17 January 1941. He was also entitled to a Bronze RHS Medal.

British War and Victory Medals are correctly impressed: Gnr. F.J. Wood. R.N.
Italy, Messina Earthquake Medal 1908, silver, unnamed; 32mm diameter with a ring suspension. Obverse; the bust of King Victor Emanuel III with the legend 'VITTORIO EMANUELE III RE D'ITALIA'. Reverse; the inscription 'MEDAGLIA COMMEMORATIVA -- TERREMOTO CALABRO-SICULO 28 DICEMBRE 1908 ' all within an oak wreath.

The above medals are in good very fine condition, the Messina medal has a couple of small edge knocks; were mounted at one time but now unmounted and with their original ribbons.

Wood was also entitled to a Royal Humane Society Medal, small, bronze, successful (the latter not with the group above) and any WW2 medals appropriate to his later WW2 service.

Frederick James Wood was born on 7 March 1892, at Ware, Hertfordshire. A farm boy by trade, he entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class on H.M.S. Ganges on 7 January 1908, being advanced to Boy 2nd Class in September the same year. His first sea-going appointment was in September 1908 aboard the armoured cruisers, Cressy and then Sutlej. As a Boy 1st Class he was on the Sutlej when she provided aid following the Messina Earthquake. His name is listed on the roll (see Angels in Blue Jackets) as having landed and being entitled to the Messina Earthquake Medal. The medal roll ADM 171 also confirms his entitlement as a rating to a 1914-15 Star, unfortunately no longer present.

On the 28 December 1908 the Sicily and Calabria area of Italy was struck by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake. It was soon realised by the Italian authorities that they had a major disaster on their hands with a huge death toll (circa 70,000 - 100,000). Many nations came to the aid of the affected areas and various ships in the Mediterranean at the time were deployed to offer whatever help could be given. Messina in Sicily was the worst affected population centre and a number of Royal and British Merchant Navy vessels landed men to assist, from digging survivors out from collapsed buildings to assisting with the evacuation of the injured and homeless.

In the aftermath of this it was decided by the Italian Royal family via a royal decree of 20 February 1910 that a commemorative medal was to be produced, to be awarded to everyone who came to the aid of the Italian people in the disaster. It is this medal - the 'commemorative medal' that turns up in British Naval medal groups (only circa 3,500 issued to the R.N.).

Wood was promoted to Ordinary Seaman aboard Implacable in March 1910 and to Ordinary Seaman aboard the same vessel in April 1911. He was advanced to Leading Seaman in September 1913 when on Actaeon and Petty Officer in August 1915 when at Pembroke III. Again on Actaeon, Petty Officer Wood and a C. R. Walker jointly rescued a man from the sea and were each awarded the Royal Humane Society Medal in Bronze with Certificate. The citation (R.H.S. Case No. 43050) reads, ‘At 11.30 a.m. on the 20th November, 1916, a man fell overboard from his vessel in the Estuary of the Thames, the sea being choppy and the vessel going 12 knots. Frederick J. Wood, Petty Officer, and C.R. Walker at once jumped after him and kept him afloat till they were picked up’.

Wood was appointed an Acting Gunner in March 1917 and was confirmed in that rank on 12 June 1918. Wood was appointed Chief Gunner in March 1927 and Lieutenant in February 1938.

During the 1920’s he was lent to the Royal Australian Navy. In January 1941 he was again lent to the Royal Australian Navy and was appointed to a R.A.N. Minelayer about to be commissioned. His papers state ‘Presumed killed in action, 16th January 1941’ but he was actually killed on his way to take up his appointment. He is listed as a passenger on the unescorted SS Zealandic (Master Frederick James Ogilvie) which at 00.45 hours on 17 Jan 1941, was hit underneath the forward mast by one G7e torpedo from U-106 about 230 miles west-northwest of Rockall. The ship stopped for a short time, sent distress signals and then continued. The ship sank slowly after being hit amidships by two further torpedoes at 00.59 and 01.27 hours. The German u-boat observed how the crew abandoned ship in three lifeboats, but tragically they were never seen again. The master, 64 crew members, two gunners and six passengers including Wood, were lost. Frederick James Wood was the son of James Abbe and Emma Wood; husband of Germaine Marie Wood, of Southsea, Hampshire. He is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial. With copied service papers, extracts from the Navy Lists and other internet research.

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Code: 54498