The scarce Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners Royal Benevolent Society Medal in gold awarded to Captain Edward Salmund, Merchant Navy

Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners Royal Benevolent Society, 1st type, gold (Edward Salmund Esq, 1855) straight bar suspension, slight edge bruising, good very fine, scarce £2,400-£2,800

Provenance: Dawson Collection; ref. Spink Exhibition 1985, No. 89; Fevyer Collection, Dix Noonan Webb, September 2008.

The hired transport Charlotte had left Queenstown, bound for Calcutta, carrying five officers and 163 men of the 27th Regiment; 14 women; 26 children and a crew of 24. On 19 September 1854 she put in to Port Elizabeth, South Africa, for water. At 5 p.m. on the following day she parted both her anchors in Algoa Bay, and in an attempt to beat out, ran ashore on a dangerous reef of rocks nearby.

The Society’s report records:
‘Eventually, and after every attempt to re-establish a communication with the Charlotte had failed, it was resolved to strive to reach her with the Life Boat, for which purpose she had to be launched some distance higher up the bay, and then to pull down between heavy rollers or breakers, until opposite the stranded ship, and in the narrow channel between the vessel and the rocks. The seamen generally refused to embark on so dangerous an enterprise, until Capt. Edward Henry Salmond, formerly a master mariner, and now a merchant at the bay, and three others guaranteed them the sum of £100. At length when the crew was obtained, another difficulty arose, the steersman, a man of courage and decision, refused to go off without Capt. Salmond accompanied them, and the latter gentlemen, not to mar so noble a design, immediately consented.

It would be difficult to describe the intense anxiety which ensued, when the Life Boat, in the depth of night, manned by its daring crew, shot out amidst the breakers... and after threading the dangerous path amidst the rollers, pulled alongside the Charlotte. No effort having been made to prepare a line on the fore-part of the ship, the Life Boat was compelled, after pulling three times alongside, to drift to the stern of the ship where a line was being prepared by the Captain. In this last desperate attempt the boat filled, and was driven into the breakers, dashed on the reef of rocks and finally stove, the crew, including Captain Salmond being washed overboard, and narrowly escaped with their lives, in spite of assistance rendered by people who lined the shore.

For the next hour or two, faint hopes were entertained that the ship might hold together until daylight and the fall of the tide. Meanwhile, the surf at the approach of high water increased in violence, and symptoms of breaking up became more painfully evident, while the groans and shouts for that help which it was impossible to render, were doubled in intensity... At about 2 a.m. one heavy sea swept over her and rent her in twain... Then arose the death shriek - the cry of agony - the wailing moan, high above the roar of the elements, which were heard distinctly... appalling sounds, which will ring in the ears of many an inhabitant of Port Elizabeth for years to come. Here and there a solitary individual, who had strength enough remaining to struggle against the current, was rescued from the jaws of death. Shortly after this occurance, the stern portion of the wreck was observed to be adrift, and nearing the shore... it was discovered that the poop deck was providentially crowded with people. This portion of the wreck being detached from the bottom and consequently drawing little water, came close in, and by means of spars, the survivors were enabled to step upon the rocks.

The doors of several houses near the spot were generously thrown open to receive the numbed and shivering creatures, many of whom were without covering... ‘Captain Warren and Dr Kidd, the only officers on board... one hundred soldiers, five women, the Captain and his son, the first Officers, Steward, Cook, Butcher and two seamen, are all that have been saved out of 233 souls. All the children perished -[together with] eleven women and 63 soldiers.

Many instances of personal daring and devotion may be cited... Capt. Salmond’s great coolness and courage on the present occasion, was but one of a long series of gallant efforts in which he has freely risked his life to save those of others.

The Committee of the Shipwrecked Mariners’ Society unanimously voted Capt Samond their gold medal, as an expression of the high sense they entertained of his heroic and philanthropic exertions... The Committee likewise fully appreciated the conduct of the Life Boat’s crew, whose gallant services were however remunerated in the sum of £100.’

The above was one of 40 gold medals awarded by the Society.