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Auction: 20002 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Space Exploration
Lot: 520

A Great War Sea Gallantry Medal awarded to Chief Steward Thomas Handley, Merchant Navy, for service aboard S.S. Saldanha when she was torpedoed, 18 March 1918

Sea Gallantry Medal, G.V.R., bronze (Thomas Handley, S.S. “Saldanha” 18th March 1918) in case of issue, nearly extremely fine

Ref. Spink Exhibition 1985, No. 116.
Ex-Fevyer Collection, 2008.

The Ellerman & Bucknall Line S.S. Saldanha, registered in North Shields, was sunk by the U52, under the command of Otto Launburg on 18 March 1918, being torpedoed in the Mediterranean, 95 miles north of Algiers. Her cargo was cotton, cottonseed and eggs; six of her crew were killed.

‘The steamship on which Mr Handley was serving was torpedoed in the Mediterranean. One of the boats in which the ship’s crew escaped lay alongside a tug, and Mr Handley, to whom had been committed the charge of the ship’s papers, was holding them in a bag in his right hand, and with the other hand was helping himself up a ladder which connected the boat and the tug. A Lascar was just in front of him also mounting the ladder, but the Lascar stumbled and fell across Mr Handley’s left arm, breaking it. To have let either the Lascar or the bag go would have meant losing them in the sea, as it was a dark night and a heavy swell was keeping the boat well away from the tug’s side. Mr Handley continued to support the Lascar on his broken arm until help arrived, and was thus no doubt instrumental in saving the man’s life’ (The Times, 19 September 1918, refers).

Sold with some copied research.

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Sold for
£320

Starting price
£240