Orders, Decorations and Medals

Royal National Lifeboat Institution, Sir William Hillary, silver (Charles F. Henderson. Voted 9th February 1961) with uniface ‘double dolphin’ suspension, mounted as worn, in case of issue, edge bruise, good very fine £600-700

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. 73.

‘25-26 October 1960: At 10.20 p.m. two coastal tankers, S.S. Arkendale and S.S. Wastdale, collided near the dock entrance at Sharpness, Gloucestershire, on the River Severn. The two vessels, one containing 200 tons of diesel oil and the other nearly 350 tons of petrol, drifted upstream locked together, and then collided with the Severn railway bridge causing two spans to collapse. Fire broke out and, with the vessels grounded upstream at Purton, Captain Carter, Master of another tanker, and Mr Henderson, newly arrived in the area from Glasgow, put out in a dinghy at 11.45 p.m. and carried out a search. In the intense heat and over an extremely large fall of tide, they picked up an oil covered man who was swimming in the river and landed him at 2.30 in the morning’ (Ref. Lifeboat Gallantry, by Barry Cox).

Both Master Mariner Thomas Carter and Charles F. Henderson, a Carpenter from Glasgow, were each awarded the R.N.L.I. Medal in Silver. Sold with copied extract from the Minutes of the Committee Meeting which detail the incident; also with a copied photograph of Mr Henderson receiving his award.