Royal National Lifeboat Institution, G.V.R., bronze (Robert Hood, Voted 20th. November 1930.) planchet only, lacking suspension, otherwise extremely fine £180-£220

‘Robert Hood, Coxswain, Hartlepool Lifeboat. On 26 September 1930, with a very heavy gale blowing and a very heavy sea and rain, the three-masted Danish Schooner Doris tried to enter harbour at Hartlepool, co. Durham. In ballast with only a small powered engine, she failed and was driven to leeward across Hartlepool Bay in heavy breaking seas, narrowly missing the Longscar Rocks. When she anchored, her anchors started to drag. The Watson-class lifeboat Elizabeth Newton launched at 12:35 p.m. After five very difficult runs, the schooner’s nine man crew jumped to safety in the lifeboat shortly before the Doris became a total wreck.’ (Lifeboat Gallantry, by Barry Cox refers).