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Auction: 24002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 81

(x) Polar 1904, bronze issue (L. Burgess "Morning" 1902-4), good very fine

Leonard Burgess served on both voyages of the Morning, one of the relief ships that went to rescue Captain Scott and crew of Discovery (British National Antarctic Expedition 1901-04). Burgess was born at Denton, Lancashire on 15 February 1869. A merchant seaman, he was the recipient of a Russian Life Saving Medal in 1900. In 1902 he was engaged as an Able Seaman on the Morning, at £5 per calendar month and was pictured on board the Morning with a Crabeater Seal.

At that point, he was reported as a good man with a fine presence. He was in fact 5'6" tall with blue eyes and a dark complexion, and missing a portion of the index finger of his right hand. On the 1902-03 relief expedition the Morning carried stores and despatches to the Discovery in McMurdo Sound. On the second relief expedition accompanied by the Terra Nova, they succeeded in releasing Discovery from the ice with all three ships sailing north on 9 February 1904. Burgess was a member of the Royal Naval Reserve and was mobilised in 1914 and saw active service during the First World War for which he was awarded a 1914-15 Star Trio. Apart from the fact that he was married nothing more is known about him.

The diary he kept while in the Antarctic is in the Macmillan Brown Library, University of Canterbury, New Zealand. It makes various mention to the Ship's Cats and the fact that kittens were born during their time in the Antarctic. Burgess' Russian Life Saving medal is illustrated in Werlich's Russian Orders, Decorations and Medals.

Subject to 5% tax on Hammer Price in addition to 20% VAT on Buyer’s Premium.

Sold for
£11,000

Starting price
£2000