REAR-ADMIRAL EVANS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 292, 1 March 1928, Page 1

REAR-ADMIRAL EVANS

TO POLE WITH SCOTT HERO OF “BROKE” FIGHT By Cable. —Press Association. — Copyright. LONDON, Tuesday. Captain E. R. G. R. Evans, C. 8., D. 5.0., R.N., has been promoted to the rank of rear-admiral. He is the youngest officer of that rank in the service, and was the Navy’s youngest commander in 1912.—A. and N.Z. Rear-Admiral Evans is well known in New Zealand as Captain Scott's second in command in the ill-fated South Polar expedition of 1912. His first wife was a daughter of Mr. T. G. Russell, of Christchurch. On Saturday, April 21, 1917, the de-stroyer-leaders Swift (Commander Feck) and Broke (Commander Evans), while

on night patrol in the English Channel, engaged six German destroyers, off Dover, and utterly routed them, in a briliant action in which boarding, hand-to-hand fighting and ramming were employed. , . Born in 1881, the new rear-admiral was , educated at the Merchant Taylors' School j and entered the Navy in IS’.*7. He served . as a lieutenant on the Morning, the relief ship to the Discovery expedition, j 1902-4. In 1909 he joined Captain Scott’s Antarctic expedition as second in com- j mand. He was promoted to commander ; in 1912 and returned to England in com- | mand of the expedition in 1913 after the death of Captain Scott. . After his exploit in the Broke, ior . which he was awarded the D. 5.0., he* ‘ commanded the Carlisle, 1921-23, and patrol mine-sweeping and fishery projection flotilla 1923-26. He was awarded King Edward VII. and King George V. i medals for Antarctic exploration, is an J officer of the Legion of com- j mander of the Order of St. Olaf, Norway, and holds many other honours, including a United States Navy Cross. He has won several medals for saving life at sea. Among his publications are: “Keeping the Seas” and “Soijth .With Scott.’’ -