Beschreibung:

The Collection of Life Saving Awards formed by The Late W.H. Fevyer Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners Royal Benevolent Society, 6th type, silver (James Unthank, Bosns. Mate S.S. ‘Oxonian’ February 6. 1920) straight bar suspension, with ‘double dolphin’ loose on ribbon, good very fine £250-300 Footnote Ref. Spink Exhibition 1985, No. 97. The following notice was issued by the Board of Trade in July 1920: Stephen Wilkinson, Chief Officer; Owen Williams Second Officer; Nelson Watson, Third Officer; Arthur Malabar, Third Engineer; James Thomas Owen, Chief Steward; George William Briscoe, Boatswain; James Unthank, Boatswain's Mate; Robert Archibald Fulton, Gerald O'Gorman, Henry Owen, and Peter Rodger, Quartermasters; John Steele Lamptrimmer; and Joseph Fitzgerald, James Owen Harry Sheldon, John Charles Simms, and Peter Starkey, Seamen, of the Steamship Oxonian, of Liverpool, are recommended by the Board of Trade for the award of the Silver Medal for Gallantry in Saving Life at Sea. In the cases of Mr Williams, O'Gorman, Rodger, Steele, Sheldon and Starkey, the award would be posthumous. The Master was also presented with a silver cup, value twelve pounds. ‘On the 6th February last, during a strong gale, the Steamship Bradboyne, of Bideford, was in distress in the North Atlantic Ocean, and in response to wireless signals of distress, the Steamship Oxonian, of Liverpool, immediately proceeded to her assistance. On her arrival it was decided to abandon the Bradboyne but owing to that vessel's heavy list and the state of the weather, her boats could not be lowered. The Master of the Oxonian called for volunteers to man the boats which he had previously got ready for lowering, and No. 2 boat, under the command of Mr Williams, and manned by Steele, O'Gorman, Rodger, Owen, Sheldon, and Starkey, was lowered and rowed towards the Bradboyne, with a special warning not to go alongside. Half an hour later No. 4 boat, under command of Mr Watson, and manned by Mr Malabar, Briscoe, Unthank, Owen, Fitzgerald and Simms was sent off. This boat went alongside the Bradboyne, and with considerable difficulty took off twenty men, who were safely conveyed on board the Oxonian. Meanwhile, No. 2 boat went alongside the Bradboyne, and fourteen members of the crew jumped in, leaving on the wreck the Master, two officers and a fireman, who was in a highly nervous state. With great difficulty the fireman was got into the boat, which, however, was washed away before the Master and Second Officer could get in. In a further attempt to get the boat alongside, she capsized. Some of the occupants clung to the capsized boat, but were washed off by a heavy sea and only four regained her, being afterwards rescued by the Oxonian, which in the meantime had been brought to windward. Others attempted to swim to the Oxonian, and ropes, bouys and rafts were thrown overboard from that vesel, Mr Wilkinson, Mr Watson, Mr Malabar, Mr J.T. Owen, Fylton and H. Owen going over the side of the vessel with ropes, attempting to rescue the men in the water, but Mr Williams, O'Gorman' Rodger, Steele, Sheldon, and Starkey, together with thirteen members of the crew of the Bradboyne were drowned. The Master and Second Officer of the Bradboyne afterwards managed to get into a boat and were rescued by the American Steamship Monmouth. The Emile Robin Award was made to Captain John Wilkinson and Mr Stephen Wilkinson. In addition to the rewards given under the Emile Robin Trust, the S.F.M.R.B.S. awarded the Captain an Aneroid Barometer and the Chief Officer, the Society’s Silver Medal. The men manning the boats (above) were each awarded the Society’s Silver Medal and a sum of money.