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Auction: 11007 - Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals & Militaria
Lot: 187

Royal National Lifeboat Institution Medal, silver, type 2 1862-1903, obverse: head of Queen Victoria with chaple of oak leaves facing left, with clasp for ´Second Service´, reverse dated ´Voted 7th. Jany. 1869.´ (Mr. Thomas Carbis. Voted 1st Feby. 1866.), engraved in mixed styles, suspension slack, edge bruising, therefore nearly very fine, with uniface ´dolphin´ suspension Estimate £ 800-1,200 Thomas Carbis, Coxswain, Penzance Lifeboat, citation reads, ´11 January 1866: The new screw-collier Bessie of Hayle went ashore on Hayle Bar in the estuary of the River Hayle, Cornwall, and became firmly embedded in the sand. Her nine man crew took to the foretop, and the St. Ives lifeboat Moses was taken to the spot together with rocket apparatus. In the mountainous seas, the range was too great for the rockets and the lifeboat had insufficient power to reach her, and a telegram was sent to Penzance seeking help from the self-righting class lifeboat Richard Lewis, which was despatched at once. After a journey of 50 miles around Land´s End, Coxswain Carbis brought his boat into St. Ives and both lifeboats set off. The Moses was the first to reach the casualty and picked up one of her crew who had fallen overboard, then, after a long struggle, both boats returned to the shore with the Master and eight members of the crew.´ Second Service, in joint citation with four others, all of whom received silver awards, reads, ´6 December 1868: The Southampton barque North Britain, inward bound from Quebec with a 950 ton cargo of timber, mistook her position in the mist at daybreak, entered Mount´s Bay and found herself embayed in the northern corner. She dropped anchor off St. Michael´s Mount but the cable parted three times and, by noon, the barque was in the surf being driven ashore between the Mount and Longrock by a ferocious gale. The Penzance self-righting lifeboat Richard Lewis reached her in just over an hour, but seven lives had already been lost in an attempt by the barque´s boat to reach safety; another four men had been saved by rocket apparatus when they neared the shore. A great sea struck the lifeboat as she was pulling under the barque´s stern and capsized her nearly killing Coxswain Carbis who was trapped but was recovered in a disabled condition. Mr. Higgans, although barely able to stand, took control and, with Captain Cay´s help, took the lifeboat back to shore. Afresh crew was put on board with Mr. Blackmore as Coxswain and Mr. Higgs in the crew. Through tremendous wind and sea to reach the wreck and took off the remaining eight men shortly before the masts went and the vessel broke up.´ Provenance: J.B. Hayward Collection, November 1995

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