Orders, Decorations and Medals

A R.N.L.I. Medal and Italian Al Valore di Marina group of five awarded to Dr William Ewart Ivers, for services at the wreck of the Isabo, Isles of Scilly, 1927

British War and Victory Medals (S-Lt. W. E. Ivers, R.N.V.R.); Defence, unnamed; Italy, Al Valore di Marina Medal, bronze, reverse inscribed, ‘Ivers, William Ewart, Scilly Rock-27-28 Ottobre 1927’, mounted as worn; Royal National Lifeboat Institution, G.V.R., bronze (Dr. William E. Ivers, Voted 17th November 1927) with uniface ‘double dolphin’ suspension, mounted as worn, edge bruising, very fine and better (5) £800-900

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of Life Saving Awards formed by The Late W.H. Fevyer.

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Ref. Spink Exhibition 1985, No. 72.

‘27 October 1927: In the afternoon in a dense fog the Italian 6,872 ton S.S. Isabo, bound from Montral to Hamburg with grain, stranded on the Scilly Rock, west of Bryher on the Isles of Scilly. The first boats to respond to her siren were from Bryher - the 30 foot open boat Czar, and two motor boats, Ivy and Sunbeam. With a gale developing over a very heavy sea, the Czar first rescued 11 men, and later another three. The Ivy picked up one man from the sea and took on board the eleven from the Czar. The Sunbeam arrived, and saved one man from the water. Launching a small dinghy, Charles Jenkins, with Edward Reginald Jenkins, saved another three men from the wreckage, then recovered another eight men before running to shore. The St. Mary’s motor lifeboat Elsie had been called out at 5 p.m., and finally reached the wreck about 9 p.m. after threading her way through treacherous waters. The sea was now breaking right over the Isabo, and men were clinging to her rigging. Coxswain Lethbridge made the difficult decision to wait until dawn to try to effect a rescue, and returned to New Grimsby for the night. Taking Dr Ivers on board, the lifeboat reached the wreck at dawn and, with great difficulty, saved four men by means of line-throwing guns’ (Ref. Lifeboat Gallantry, by Barry Cox).

It was recorded in The Lifeboat, ‘To Dr. W. E. Ivers, who in spite of the fact that he was not a sailor, and, though not sea-sick, suffered much physical discomfort from rough weather, [awarded] the Bronze Medal’.

Dr Iver’s Bronze Medal was one of six bronze and two silver awards for the rescue. In addition the R.N.L.I. awarded several ‘Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum’ and a number of monetary awards. An extract from the Minutes of the Committee Meeting of 14 November 1929 reported in The Lifeboat, records that the Italian Government made awards in recognition of the services rendered by the Isles of Scilly, in rescuing 32 out of the crew of 38 of the Italian steamer. Silver medals were given to the lifeboat coxswain and to the coxswains of the three shore boats, and 34 bronze medals were given to others who assisted, including Dr. Ivers.

Sold with copied extracts of the rescue taken from The Lifeboat and a copy of The Wreck of the Isabo, by Richard Barber, L.S.A.R.S. Journal No.35, p.22-26.