George Fawcett Pitts ABBOTT GC

liverpool annie · Oct 21, 2009

No. & Rank at the Time of Action - Deck Hand
Unit/Occupation - Royal Naval Reserve
Date and Place of Birth - 18th September 1897, Nelson, Lancashire.
Date and Place of GC Action - 14th September 1917, Horsea Island
The London Gazette - 12th December 1917

In March 1909, Horsea Island became the site of the Admiralty's first high-powered shore Wireless Telegraphy (W/T) Station, followed by two others at Cleethorpes and Gibraltar. The mess block was extended and altered to house W/T equipment and an extensive forest of 150 foot tall Marconi aerials was erected. Between 1913 and 1921, four wooden lattice Elwood masts, each 446 feet high, were erected to join the original pole masts. These were claimed to be the tallest masts in Europe at the time. The station was under the orders of the Admiral Commanding Coastguards and Reserves and was manned by Coastguard W/T ratings with RN officers in charge until the Coastguard ratings were replaced with RN ratings in 1914. On 14 September 1917, a Sopwith Baby seaplane piloted by Flight Commander Edward Albert de Lossy de Ville crashed into one of the Elwood masts in poor visibility. The biplane remained wedged into the latticework 360 feet above the ground. Able Seaman Nicholas Rath RNR, with the assistance of Ordinary Seaman Richard Knowlton and Deckhand George Faucett Pitts Abbott RNR, climbed the mast and managed to reach the unconscious pilot who was lying precariously on the lower wing. They tied a rope around his waist and then lowered him to the ground on a bosun's chair. The pilot recovered and all three ratings were awarded the Albert Medal with Rath receiving one in gold.
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London Gazette reads -

"On the 14 September 1917, a seaplane collided with a Poulsen mast and remained wedged in it, the pilot (Acting Flight Commander E. A. de Ville) being rendered unconscious and thrown out of his seat and on to one of the wings.. The three men mentioned at once climbed up the mast for 100 feet, when Rath, making use of the boatswain's chair, which moves on the inside of the mast, was hoisted up by the men at the foot of the mast to the place, over 500 feet from the ground, where the seaplane was fixed. He then climbed out on to the plane, and held the pilot until the arrival of Abbott and Knoulton, who passed the masthead gantline out to him. Having secured the pilot with the gantline Rath, with the assistance of Knoulton and Abbott, lifted him from the plane to the inside of the mast and lowered him to the ground. The three men were well aware of the damaged and insecure condition of the mast, which was bent to an angle where the seaplane had become wedged. One of the three supports of the mast was fractured, and, so far as the men knew, the mast or the seaplane could have collapsed at any time."
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http://www.burnleygallantry.co.uk/abbottam.htm

liverpool annie · Oct 21, 2009

http://publishing.yudu.com/A24gx/navynewssept07/resources/14.htm

Snippet*

1915 Aviators Certificates - UK - Announced 4th June

1281 Flight Sub-Lieut. Edward Alexander de Lossy de Ville, R.N.A.S. (Grahame-White Biplane, Grahame-White School, Hendon). May 29th, 1915.
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George Fawcett Pitts ABBOTT GC

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