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Auction: 11007 - Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals & Militaria
Lot: 198

Royal National Lifeboat Institution Medal, silver, type 4 1912-37, obverse: head of King George V facing left, with clasp for ´Second Service´, reverse dated ´Voted 17th Feb. 1922.´, this with minor official correction (George Cromarty. Voted 8th Dec. 1916.), engraved in upright serif capitals, extremely fine, with uniface ´dolphin´ suspension, with riband brooch and in fitted case of issue Estimate £ 1,400-1,800 George Cromarty, Coxswain, Holy Island No. 2 Lifeboat, citation reads, ´19-20 November 1916: The Gothenburg barque Jolani was seen to be drifting dangerously near to Emmanuel Head on Holy Island but succeeded in weathering it, and it became apparent that she would drive ashore in the neighbourhood of Goswick, Northumberland. The self-righting lifeboat Edward and Eliza was called at 2.40pm. Men and horses went to the boathouse two and a half miles away and transported the lifeboat on her carriage six miles over sands churned up by the waves. For four and a half miles of the journey, they were forced to wade through water two and a half feet deep. When they drew nearer the wreck they saw her crew of 14 men gathered on her stern - the only part not submerged. Although repeatedly thrown back by the violence of the waves, the lifeboat was finally launched successfully. The wreck was drifting northwards in a raging east-south-east hurricane with seas breaking over her. After unsuccessful attempts, Coxswain Cromarty eventually managed to get a line aboard and all the 14 men were brought off, the lifeboat being beached at Cheswick, three miles further north. After being given rest and refreshment at the Goswick Golf Club House, the lifeboat crew went home by cart and returned in the afternoon to collect the boat.´ Second Service, in joint citation with William Wilson and Thomas A. Bowman (both of the Holy Island Lifeboat and both received Bronze awards) reads, ´15-16 January 1922: At 8pm in a strong south-easterly gale, heavy sea and a snow storm, the trawler James B. Graham went ashore on the rocks off False Emmanuel Head on the north side of Holy Island, off the Northumberland coast. The whole village turned out in the dark and snow to launch the lifeboat - it needed 60 helpers, and women waded out waist deep into the sea to help. When the self right lifeboat Lizzie Porter arrived at the sight of the wreck, the trawler was found lying in a perilous position by rocks and iron remnants of an old wreck. An unsuccessful attempt having been made, Coxswain Cromarty lay off for two hours for the tide to rise, but the next attempt also failed. After another hour, he veered his boat carefully down, took off the nine men and returned to station at 2am.´ The wooden barque Jolani, 881 tons, was built by J. Ahlers at Elsfleth in 1876 and was in Swedish ownership and registry for her entire life. Provenance: J.B. Hayward Collection, November 1995

Sold for
£5,200