Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Mr. A. McLean Wait, Master of the Arab

Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, dated reverse, no clasp (Mr. A. McLean Wait, “Arab”); Khedive’s Star, 1882, good very fine (2) £350-400

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Small Collection of Medals to the Merchant Navy.

View
Collection

Only Masters of Transports received the 1882 Medal, making them unique to each of the 105 vessels employed.

Alfred Wait, who was born in Keynsham, Somerset and took his Master’s certificate in March 1872, originally served in the British Steam Navigation Co., an appointment curtailed by the loss of his command the Ethiopia on the rocks of Cape Negrais in August 1873 - a loss in fact occasioned by the negligence of his Second Officer. Subsequently finding employment with the Union Steamship Co., he again suffered the loss of his command, the American, in April 1880, when the propeller shaft fractured in the stern tube and caused massive flooding - as a result of Wait’s steady leadership, all the ship’s boats were got away without any loss of life, an achievement for which he was pried as a subsequent Board of Inquiry. Then in May 1882, he assumed command of the Arab, shortly to be taken up by the government for transport duties in the Egyptian operations, when she embarked the 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers, for Alexandria. Wait remained employed at sea until 1893, when he was appointed Marine Superintendent for the Union Steamship Company; sold with full career details.