Mediterranean Fleet Regata Medal 1926, obv. shield of H.M.S. Barham, rev.inscribed, ‘First Seamen’s Cutter 2 m. E. Pitcher, V.C., Cox’, 33mm., silver, hallamrks for Birmingham 1926, good very fine £200-300

Chief Petty Officer Ernest Herbert Pitcher, V.C., D.S.M., was born in Mullion, Cornwall on 31 December 1888. Victoria Cross London Gazette 2 November 1917. Register of the Victoria Cross states: ‘On 8 August 1917 in the Bay of Biscay, Petty Officer Pitcher was the 4-inch gunlayer on H.M.S. Dunraven (one of the ‘Q’ or mystery ships) when she was shelled by an enemy submarine. He and the rest of the crew waited while the battle went on overhead and all around them. When the magazine below them caught fire they took up cartridges and held them on their knees to prevent the heat of the deck igniting them and when the magazine finally blew up they were all blown into the air’. A balloted award. Lieutenant (later Captain) Charles George Bonner, R.N., was also awarded the V.C. for this action. Pitcher later served in the Second World War; he died on 10 February 1946.