RESCUED A SAILOR

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20990, 18 December 1939, Page 6

RESCUED A SAILOR

SEAMAN SIIERLEY’S CAREER FORMER WAIKATO MAN KILLED Once responsible for saving the life of a shipmate, Seaman E. V. Sherley, the Te Awamutu sailor who was seriously injured on H.M.S. Achilles in Wednesday’s South Atlantic naval battle, has had a successful career in the Navy. He has been specialising in recent years in range-finding, and during the battle he would have been in the control top, part of which must have been damaged by German gunfire. Range-finding plays a big part in naval warfare and Sherley’s task was, therefore, an important one. Sherley entered H.M.S. Philomel as a seaman boy when he was 16£. Later he was transferred to H.M.S. Diomede, being in her when she was sent to Aden during the Abyssinian crisis. At Aden he saved another seaman’s life by diving into a lake when his shipmaie was in difficulties. He went in the Diomede from Aden to England, when the cruiser was paid off, and was among the New Zealanders who came out in the Achilles on her first New Zealand commission, being with her since then. Sherley has played for both the Achilles’ and the Diomede’s hockey teams, and is said by New Zealanders at the Devonport naval base to be a particularly popular member of the ship’s company. Lived At Cambridge Until a few years ago Able-Seaman A. C. IT. Shaw, who was killed in the Achilles action, was a resident of the Waikato, living at Cambridge. He was educated at the Cambridge Primary School and the Cambridge District High School, where he was a prefect and a member of the first Rugby football fifteen. His mother is Mrs H. Gaily, of Oturoa, Ngongotaha, Rotorua. Able-Seaman Shaw was born at Rangoon, Burma. When his father died about 20 years ago, Mrs Gaily and her son came to New Zealand. In 1928 he entered the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy and served first in H.M.S. Diomede and then in H.M.S. Dunedin, on which he went to England in 1937. He was among those who returned to the Dominion in H.M.S. Leander. After his transfer to H.M.S. Achilles Shaw was sent to Australia for advanced gunnery training, and on his return rejoined his ship. “I am trying to go about my work as usual, to keep my mind off the shock of losing my son so suddenly,” said Mrs Gaily. “It is very hard when a mother loses her only son,” Mrs Gaily continued, “but I suppose that is war, and I will not be the only mother to suffer such a loss.” It was only about two weeks ago that she had heard from her son in a letter dated October 15. There was nothing in that letter, a brief note, to suggest where the Achilles had been when the letter was written. He said he was well, and looked forward to receiving his Christmas mail.