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Auction: 25112 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 717

An outstanding 1956 B.E.M. awarded to Boatswain I. Mataro, a native of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands who managed to swim with an exhausted man on his shoulders to land on Guadalcanal, coming across a dangerous reef after their ship wrecked, the whole after having drifted across the Pacific for two months after the Arakarimoa broke down

British Empire Medal, E.II.R., Civil Division (Ioteba Mataro), officially impressed naming on a pre-prepared ground, very fine, in its case of issue

B.E.M. London Gazette 9 October 1956:

'The Arakarimoa, which had drifted for two months across the Pacific with engines broken down, was wrecked on a reef off the south coast of Guadalcanal.

It was necessary to abandon ship and Mataro jumped into the sea at dawn on that day with two other men and a woman. The woman and one man disappeared and the other man was incapable of swimming further due to exhaustion. Mataro therefore carried him on his shoulders and managed to get him ashore in spite of the very heavy surf.

He landed completely exhausted, at sunset on the same day, having been in the water for about twelve hours. This remarkable feat of endurance was performed after the privations of over two months adrift in the Pacific.'

Ioteba Mataro was born in 1918 on the island of Abaiang, one of the Gilbert Islands (now Kiribati). He worked as Boatswain on the Arakarimoa, working the line between Tarawa and her neighbours. Together with seven passengers and her crew (19 in total), they set off for Maiana on 29 December 1955, not realising the ordeals - and sad losses - that would follow. Sailing with her sister vessel, the Arakarimoa met a strong storm which separated the two in the night. Reports swirled locally that she had been seen to have set ablaze or struck a jagged reef. She was presumed lost at sea.

However, what was to follow in the next 62 days was a true epic of survival. The band had to rig up a sail and hope they might drift in the direction of salvation but it was not meant to be. They fished with little success and a baby girl was born to one of the passengers. Luck smiled on them when a six-foot shark was lured by a bait fish they had caught and went to the pot, being enjoyed by all.

The ordeal would seem never to end and on 28 February 1956, after 62 days at sea, they had their first sight of land. They had reached Guadalcanal, a drift of some 2,000 miles. Now of course, a huge swell came in and a storm rose and drove some to attempt the rowing boat to make sure. The seas tossed them in for the sharks to feast. Another lifeboat launched with 10 and left Mataro and four others. Arakarimoa now came into the Poole Reef and began to break up, there was nothing for it but to try and swim to safety. Mataro took the little baby from its mother to give them both the best chance of safety. The mother was never seen again and the babe would perish in his arms. He then gamely went to assist Teata to swim ashore, for he was almost unconscious. After some 12 hours in the water, he finally made it ashore and was duly rewarded with the B.E.M. for his exceptional efforts; sold together with an original copy of A Medal for Mataro which includes images of the recipient and elaborates on the tale.

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Sold for
£450

Starting price
£450