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BNPS.co.uk (01202 558833)
Pic: Spink&Son/BNPS
Captain Sir Archibald Cochrane's silver presentation box, hallmarks for Birmingham 1911, the front engraved 'A.D.C. from the Scottish Unionist Members of the House of Commons given to him on as a wedding present
The bravery medals of a hero submariner who made one of World War One's most daring escapes are being sold by his family for £18,000.
Captain Sir Archibald Cochrane sank numerous enemy vessels before he was captured during the Gallipoli campaign in 1915.
He was part of a group of officers who broke out of a Turkish POW camp in August 1918, cutting through the bars of a hospital window with a steel saw before descending to the ground on a rope ladder.
Then followed an extraordinary six-week long 450 mile trek across mountainous terrain in extreme weather, dodging Turkish patrols and evading fire from local bandits. After reaching the coast, they commandeered a motor boat and crossed the Mediterranean Sea to Cyprus where they were greeted as heroes. Their exploits were later revealed in a book, Four-Fifty Miles to Freedom.
Capt Cochrane's medals - including a prestigious Distinguished Service Order with bar - are going under the hammer with London based auctioneers Spink & Son.