Archibald Bisset SmithVC was a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Smith received this award for his action as Master of the SS Otaki, a ship of the Mercantile Marine. On 10 March 1917 in the Atlantic, the SS Otaki, whose armament consisted of one 4.7-inch gun, sighted the German raider SMS Möwe, which was armed with four 5.9-inch, one 4.1-inch and two 22-pounder guns. The raider called on Otaki to stop, but Captain Smith refused to do so. A duel ensued, during which Otaki secured a number of hits and caused considerable damage, but she herself sustained much damage and was on fire. Captain Smith, therefore, ordered his crew to abandon ship, but he himself stayed on board and went down with his ship. His citation reads: As a Merchant seaman, he could not receive the VC at that time. In 1919 he was posthumously promoted a temporary lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve and was then entitled to receive the VC posthumously. As a British Merchant seaman who has no known grave, he is commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial. On 10 March 2017, a memorial stone was laid at Schoolhill, Aberdeen, to commemorate the centenary of the award of the VC. His VC is preserved at the P&O Heritage Collection in London.
Personal life
Smith was born at Cosie Brae in Cults on 19 December 1878, one of five children of William Smith, an accountant and wholesale merchant, and Annie Smith, both originally from Rhynie. William Smith was a descendant of Bold Peter Smith, a Jacobite killed at the Battle of Culloden. Archibald was a student at Robert Gordon's College before joining the Merchant Navy in 1895. He gained his Master's ticket in 1903 while serving with the New Zealand Shipping Company, and served on the steamers Waikato, Rakaia, Waimate and Turakina. Shortly before World War I, Smith married Edith Clulee, whom he had met while working in Port Chalmers, New Zealand. She had a son, Alfred, from a previous marriage. Alfred later took his stepfather's surname.
Legacy
Edith and Alfred received the posthumous VC from King George V in 1919. After Edith's death in 1951, Alfred sold the VC and Archibald's other medals to the New Zealand Shipping Company for £ 125. In 1937, his family presented the Otaki Shield to Robert Gordon's College, to be an annual award to the senior boy who is judged "pre‐eminent in character, in leadership and in athletics". The shield is accompanied by the prize of six weeks in New Zealand as Otaki Scholar, visiting various schools as a "roving ambassador" for the college.
