William Edward Sanders

William Edward Sanders VC, DSO (7 February 1883 – 14 August 1917) was a New Zealander recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Sanders' Victoria Cross was won while commanding the HMS Prize during the First World War. He was later killed in action when the Prize was sunk by a German U-boat.

Early life
William Sanders was born in the Auckland suburb of Kingsland on 7 February 1883. His father, Edward Helman Cook Sanders, was a boot maker, who with his wife Emma Jane Sanders (née Wilson), would have three more children. His maternal grandfather was a sea captain and worked for the family's shipping company.

Sanders attended Nelson Street School but in 1894, when his family moved to Takapuna, he shifted to Takapuna School. The school was close to Lake Pupuke, where he learned to sail. He earned the nickname Gunner Billy for his exploits with a small cannon that a classmate brought to school. He left school at the age of 15, and due to the influence of his parents was apprenticed to a mercer in Auckland. He was not particularly interested in the profession and, desiring a career at sea, would go down to the wharfs to inspect the berthed ships and chat with their captains and crewmen.

In 1899, Sanders joined the Kapanui as a cabin boy. An officer on the ship, a coastal steamer which worked the coast north of Auckland, was an acquaintance and advised Sanders of the availability of a position on board as a cabin boy, which he promptly applied for. He remained with the company that operated the Kapanui for three years. In 1902 he joined the Aparima, operated by the Union Steam Ship Company, which traded between New Zealand and India. He transferred to the NZGSS Hinemoa in 1906 as an ordinary seaman. The Hinemoa was a government steamer which serviced lighthouses along the New Zealand coast and depots on offshore islands.

With his seafaring career to date spent working on steamships, Sanders decided to spend time under sail with the Craig Line. At the time, steam was looked down upon by seafarers with sailors being regarded as more skillful. After taking his mate's certificates, he was aboard the Joseph Craig, which foundered on the Hokianga bar on 7 August 1914.

First World War
During the early part of the war, Sanders worked as second mate on the Moeraki. He also sat for his Masters certificate, passing with honours on 7 November 1914. He was then discharged from the Moeraki in December and applied for the Royal Naval Reserve. However, he was not called up and in the interim served as a Merchant Navy officer on the troopships Willochra and Tofua.

After repeated pleas to authorities, Sanders traveled to London and on 19 April 1916 was finally appointed an acting sub-lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve. After a period of time at the HMS Excellent training facility on Whale Island, he was granted a position on the Helgoland, a Q-ship operating against German submarines in the Western Approaches.

Q-ships were merchant ships crewed by Navy personnel and bearing hidden weaponry. When attacked by U-boats, a portion of the ship's crew (referred to as a panic party) would appear to evacuate the vessel, sometimes setting smoke fires to simulate damage. This would encourage its attacker to approach and when the U-boat was close enough, the Q-ship's guns would become operational and open fire, hopefully destroying the submarine.

The Helgoland was a Dutch brigantine armed with 12-pounder guns and a machine gun. Sanders, second in command to Captain (then Lieutenant) A.D. Blair, helped oversee its conversion to a Q-ship. On its first patrol in September 1916 it participated in two actions against U-boats, and on its second the following month, it again engaged two U-boats. On both occasions, Sanders was noted for his calmness under fire. At one stage in one of the October actions, a screen concealing one of the guns jammed; Sanders exposed himself to potential gun fire from the U-boat being attacked in order to free the screen.

His conduct on the Helgoland resulted in a promotion to lieutenant for Sanders, and he was also recommended for command of his own ship. In February 1917, he was appointed captain of the HMS Prize, a three-masted topsail schooner that was sailing under the German flag when it was seized in 1914 and converted to a Q-ship in early 1917. At midnight on 30 April 1917 about 180 miles south of Ireland, in the Atlantic, the Prize was attacked by a U-boat, the SMS U-93. It was genuinely badly damaged by shellfire from the U-boat's deck guns. Sanders, remaining under cover, moved about the vessel reassuring his men.

After the 'panic party' had taken to the boats and the ship appeared to be sinking, the U-boat approached to within 80 yards of her port quarter, whereupon Sanders ordered the White Ensign hoisted and the Prize opened fire. Within a few minutes the submarine was on fire and her bows rose in the air, whilst the Prize was further damaged. The U-boat disappeared from sight, and was believed to have been sunk by the crew of the Prize and by several of the German crew (including her captain) who had been blown or jumped into the sea. However, neither of the crippled ships had sunk, with the Prize being towed in flames back to Kinsale. The U-93 struggled back to the Sylt nine days later.

Badly damaged, the Prize had to spend several weeks being repaired. During this time the First Sea Lord Admiral Sir John Jellicoe offered Sanders command of a destroyer of his choosing, which he declined. He returned to sea in May with the Prize conducting a second patrol for three weeks. Sanders was wounded slightly in an action on 12 June, in which the Prize was fired at 30 times by the U-boat being attacked. His award of the Victoria Cross (VC) for his actions on 30 April was gazetted in June, while he was at sea on a third patrol. Because the use of Q-ships such as the Prize were still secret, the published details of his award when it was gazetted simply read "In recognition of his conspicuous gallantry, consummate coolness, and skill in command of one of H.M. Ships in action."

The Prize was lost on its fourth patrol, Sanders having been promoted to lieutenant-commander. On 14 August 1917, the SMS U-43 (Germany) spotted the Prize. The Q-ship was recognised by the captain of the U-boat, who had been warned by the survivors of U-93 and did not approach the Prize too closely. Instead, it remained submerged and fired two torpedoes into the sailing ship, blowing her to pieces. Rescue craft were unable to find a trace of her crew when they arrived in the area, long after the U-boat had escaped.

Sanders died without knowledge of the award of a Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for his actions on 12 June 1917. In June 1918, Sanders' father received his son's VC and DSO from the Governor-General of New Zealand. Sander's VC, the only one won by a New Zealander serving in the navy, and DSO is on display at the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

Memorials
There are many memorials to Sanders, including an exhibit of photographs and his citations at Takapuna Primary School, which he attended, a bronze tablet in the church at Milford Haven, the home port of the Prize, and The Sanders Memorial Scholarship at the University of Auckland for children of members of the Royal Navy or the Mercantile Marine. The best-known memorial is the Sanders Cup for interprovincial competition between 14–foot (4.3 m) centerboard X-class yachts, still contested to this day.