Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society, Marine Medal, 2nd type oval medal with ‘Liver Bird’ suspension, reverse inscribed ‘John Park A.B., S.S. Batavia, 16 Dec. 1872’, additionally inscribed on the edge, ‘For great courage & humanity in going in the boat in a heavy gale & rescuing 9 of the crew of the Charles Ward abandoned 20. Nov. 1872’, edge bruises, otherwise good very fine £500-£700

The Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society records state:
‘For a most gallant and seaman-like rescue of nine survivors of the crew of the “Charles Ward” which was dismasted and about to be torn to pieces by the fearful violence of the winds and waves in the Atlantic on the 20th November 1872. The weather was so bad that they could not hoist up the lifeboat after the rescue and it had to be abandoned.’

John Park was serving as Able Seaman aboard the Cunard liner S.S. Batavia on her last voyage to Boston when she was alerted to the plight of the Charles Ward, of Newcastle, which was foundering a mid-Atlantic gale. The Liverpool Albion of 14 December 1872 describes the scene:
‘At 4 p.m. a dismasted vessel was sighted. A furious squall had just broken upon us, and the sea was running mountains high, to use the popular expression. Nevertheless, Capt. Moreland immediately bore up to the wreck, which was making signals of distress, ordered out a life boat and called out for volunteers. To a landsman it seemed like deliberate suicide to go out in such a storm, but our third and fourth officers and eight men answered the call with a promptness that compelled a cheer. The wreck, a barque, was in a pitiful condition. Her main-mast was naked; her mizzen-mast and her bowsprit were gone, and her foremast was but a stump wreathed and cumbered with a ruin of sails and cordage... We could see nine men clinging to the main rigging.’

The rescue was effected over an hour, one man at a time, using a line and buoy in treacherous seas. Once aboard the Batavia it was noted: ‘They had been in the main rigging some thirty-one hours, without food or water, and were so frozen and exhausted that they could hardly speak and the minds of several were wandering’. The Charles Ward sank the following morning; for their bravery, the crew of the lifeboat received silver medals and Captain Moreland was recognised with the award of the gold medal.