HMAS VOYAGER I

Date1939-1945

Object number00054679

NameShip badge

MediumBronze, wood

DimensionsOverall: 181 × 135 mm

ClassificationsCommemorative artefacts

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Rhod Cook

Terms

DescriptionShip badge from HMAS Voyager (I) acquired by Captain William Cook, RAN when he served as the vessel's First Lieutenant during the Second World War. This object is one of a large collection of documents, photographs, uniforms, ship badges and ephemera associated with the Royal Australian Navy service of brothers William Cook and Frederick Cook. Both men entered service prior to the Second World War, were seconded to the Royal Navy, and underwent training at Greenwich and Portsmouth. Frederick Cook later gained fame as the only Australian survivor of HMS Royal Oak, torpedoed by a German U-boat in October 1939. William Cook was the youngest commander of an Australian destroyer during the Second World War, and was First Lieutenant of HMAS Wyatt Earp, the primary research vessel for the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition in 1947-48.SignificanceThis badge is associated with HMAS Voyager (I), a V&W Class destroyer built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. Voyager was gifted to the RAN during the 1930s and later served with distinction as part of the famed 'Scrap Iron Flotilla' during the Second World War. It was later accidentally run aground and abandoned at East Timor in September 1942. The badge is also directly associated with William Cook, who served as Voyager's First Lieutenant during the Second World War when the vessel operated as part of the 'Tobruk Ferry Service'. Cook would later assume command of HMAS Nizam in February 1945 and become the youngest Australian naval officer to command a destoyer during the Second World War. He would also serve as First Lieutenant aboard HMAS Wyatt Earp, the first Australian naval vessel to participate in an Antarctic research expedition (the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition) in the immediate post-war period.