AUSTRALIAN REAR-ADMIRAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1339, 22 December 1914, Page 4

AUSTRALIAN REAR-ADMIRAL.

Among recent naval promotions is that of an Australian, Captain E. F. Gaunt having been made a rear-admiral. Admiral Gaunt, who is a son of the late Judge Gaunt, of Victoria, joined the navy in 1878, just after entering his teens. Now, at the age of 49, be has attained the rank of rearadmiral. He and his brother, Captain Guy Gaunt, formerly of the Challenger, were among the first Australians to carve out brilliant careers in the British Navy. Admiral Gaunt distinguised himself during the Boxer outbreak in China in 1900, and for his services on that occasion he received the thanks of the Austrian and German com-manders-in-chief, and was afterwards created a C.M.G. In 1903 he revealed his qualities of leadership in Somaliland, where he commanded the lauding party irom H.M.S. Mohawk that co-operated with the Italian Navy in avenging the death of Lieutenant Graham at Durho, He was himself severely wounded in the fighting that occurred, and so conspicuously gallant was his conduct that he received a vote of thanks from the Italian Chamber of Deputies, as well as the Italian military medal for valour, while the British Admiralty recognised his service by promoting him to the rank of captain.