2.
Jan. 10, 2014

I was interested to see Roger Cook's post on the message board regarding HMS Jupiter and her arrival at Archangelesk. My Grandfather, William Ernest Prout, was on board this ship at that time serving as an officer's steward. On returning to UK whilst the ship was undergoing her re-fit my Grandfather jumped ship due to being bullied. He then enlisted in the Somerset Light Infantry, under his mother's maiden name of Sweet and was sent to Belgium where he manned a trench mortar. He was wounded three times but survived.

On his discharge he heard that a medal had been struck for the crew of Jupiter by the Russian Tsar and applied for it only to find that his brother George Prout had replaced him on HMS Jupiter and had been presented with Ern's medal. George had intended to hand it to his brother at a later date and therefore did not apprise the authorities that he was not, in fact, the rightful recipient. George narrowly escaped a court martial once it became known that he had that he had accepted a medal to which he was not entitled. Unfortunately Ern's brother Alfred borrowed the medal and it was subsequently lost.

Regards,
Hilary Picton

1.
Oct. 7, 2013

One of my long-lost relatives named W. Morgan was a stoker on board HMS Jupiter, the old pre-dreadnought sent to Archangelsk as guardship in February 1915. Nothing over-exciting, except that the Russians were so amazed by the fact that she was the first ship ever to visit when the port was ice-bound (using her old ram bow to break through), that everyone on board got a medal.  Below is shown the Tsarist silver medal marked 'For Valor' and his other medals.

Roger Cook