Awarded to Commander Henry James Bray DSC (1882-1959). Obverse: Head of King George V (left). Legend: 'GEORGIVS V BRITT : OMN : REX ET IND : IMP:' Reverse: Within a laurel garland in relief, the bow view of a drifter, a ship in the distance (right). Exergue: 'FOR WAR SERVICE MERCANTILE MARINE 1914-1918'. Fitted with a bar and light green and scarlet watered silk ribbon divided by a narrow white stripe. Mounted on a bar with five others.

Henry James Bray was born in Shrewsbury in 1882 and qualified as a Merchant Navy captain in 1910. From 1910-1914 he was master of the ‘Holt Hill’, a four-masted barque. During World War I Bray served as a lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve and in 1916, while commanding the armed trawler ‘Searanger’, helped to sink the German submarine ‘U-74’ which was on a mine-laying expedition in the Firth of Forth. Bray was awarded the DSC for this action. He was promoted to Acting Lieutenant-Commander in 1919.