216886 Surg.Prob. Robert Sydney Steele Smith AM.Royal Navy HMS Bergamot Robert S.S.Smith, R.N.V.R., was Surgeon Probationer on the Q-ship Bergamot when she was torpedoed by the U-84 on the 13th August 1917, due west of Killybegs, Ireland. When the torpedo hit, Smith and the 1st Lieutenant, Frederick William Siddall, were in the wardroom aft. All of the exits were blocked by the explosion, and Siddall was knocked out, so Smith piled high the wrecked wardroom furniture under the skylight and pulled him through this onto the deck. Siddall began to regain consciousness. Leaving him briefly, Smith attended a Petty Officer, lying on the deck with a broken arm and leg. Blowing up his life preserver and lowering him into the water, he then did the same for the 1st Lieutenant as by this time Bergamot was foundering.
Lieutenant Siddall was rendered unconscious again by a secondary explosion as the ship sank, and by the time he was pulled on board lifeboat no. 2, was to all intents, dead. Smith worked on him for 25 minutes, using artificial respiration and CPR until he regained consciousness. He then continued working, as best he could in the conditions, on all of Bergamot's injured personnel until they were picked up 43 hours later.
The King awarded Smith the Albert Medal for lifesaving, and he was mentioned in despatches.
|