Wrist watch : Captain George Furner Langley, 21st Battalion, AIF

Wrist watch with white dial and black numerals, contained in a brown leather cover with wrist strap. The hands and protective mesh cover are missing.

Watch worn by Captain George Furner Langley when the transport 'Southland' was severely damaged by a German torpedo in the Aegean Sea near Lemnos, on 2 September 1915. He had bought it the day before he left Egypt and subsequently sent it home as a souvenir of the attack, in which thirty men had been killed.

When the torpedo struck the ship Langley was hurled into the air. Falling through a hatch into the bilge he could have been killed or badly injured from the impact, but luckily the bilge had begun to fill with water from the hole in the side caused by the torpedo, breaking his fall.

However, the water that broke his fall became the next threat to his life and he almost drowned. When he managed to get his head above water, sulphurous fumes overtook him. Langley was pushed to the side of the hatch by the water and managed to grab hold of the edge but did not have the energy to pull himself out.

Fortunately he was rescued by a soldier from the 23rd Battalion. Although injured in the fall, Langley managed to take control of his men during the evacuation of the ship.

The Southland did not sink and once most of the men were overboard in the lifeboats or in the water it remained afloat and was later salvaged. Langley spent a few days recovering, but despite doctor’s orders to recuperate further, he disembarked with his unit at Gallipoli.