Naval Service Record of Maurice M.F. Conde-Williams OBE (1885-1967) Includes many official Naval Documents signed by various Rear Admirals. Most interestingly includes his personal account of the Earthquake that hit Sicily & Calabria from 28th December 1908 - 2nd January 1909. (9 pages, written on one side of paper only) detailing the Naval response to the disaster. “50,000 people under the ruins at Messina, 30,000 at Reggio, yet the Italian Admiral appeared to hesitate before accepting our help” “From the ship looked the picture of desolation, many places on fire, buildings in ruins and crowds of people carrying what appeared to be corpses” “Had to impress on natives, we had not come to bury their dead but to save the wounded” “Everything they want done for them, although the town is full of strong, lusty men, not one of them will alleviate in anyway the sufferings of their own countrymen and women around them. It is exasperating” “It would be too gruesome here to relate some of the stories in connection with the disaster - but if the horrors of a battlefield are worse than the days after an earthquake, God forbid that I should ever witness it” 5 years later he served in WWI