Orders, Decorations and Medals

Royal Humane Society, large silver medal (unsuccessful), by Pistrucci (John Cameron, Boatswain H.M.S. Queen Vit. Peric. Expos. D.D. Soc. Reg. Hvm. 19 Jany. 1860) fitted with a ring and straight bar suspension, with silver buckle on ribbon, minor edge bruising and contact marks, good very fine, scarce £250-300

Ex Dawson, Gascoigne 1934, Edrington 1980 and Fevyer 2008 Collections.

‘At one p.m., on the 27th of January 1860, the hands were sent aloft to furl sails, when Neil Sinclair, A.B., fell from the foreyard between H.M.S. under my command [Queen] and the hulk Bellerophon, sustaining fatal contusions in the fall. Mr Cameron, who was on the forecastle at the time, immediately jumped overboard, at the imminent peril of his life, notwithstanding there was a strong tide running at the time, and caught Sinclair, who was in the act of sinking, and kept him up until assistance arrived. Frederick Davies, A.B., although on the sick-list, gallantly jumped overboard from the sick-bay of the Bellerophon hulk to assist in saving Sinclair’. (Ref. R.H.S. Case No. 16,457; Acts of Gallantry, p. 241). Both John Cameron and Frederick Davies were awarded the R.H.S. Medal in silver. Note disparity of dates. Sold with copied service details.

Medals specifically for ‘unsuccessful’ rescues were introduced in 1837.