Orders, Decorations and Medals

Pair: Captain Bertram George Hayward, Mercantile Marine, Master of the S.S. Wiltshire that ran aground on Great Barrier Island, New Zealand, 31 May 1922

British War and Mercantile Marine War Medals (Bertram G. Hayward) nearly extremely fine (2) £100-140

Bertram George Hayward was born in Croydon, Surrey, c.1870. Entering service in the Merchant Navy, he passed for Second Mate in 1889, First Mate in 1891, and served as Mate aboard the Maori King, operating in Australian waters, 1893-97. He received his first appointment as Captain on the Attic King in September 1897. Further appointments as Captain followed on into the Great War, where he served as Captain of the Steam Navigation Co. vessels, Shropshire, December 1913; Northumberland, January 1916, and Wiltshire, from July 1916. For his wartime services he was awarded the British War and Mercantile Marine Medals.

Hayward continued as Captain of the liner Wiltshire after the war. On the night of 31 May 1922, in a violent storm, when on a voyage from Liverpool to Auckland, the ship ran aground on the rocks at Rosalie Bay, Great Barrier Island, New Zealand. Several ships and tugs put out from Auckland but were unable to get near enough to the stranded vessel. Fortunately the ship was held fast to the rocks and on 2 June a line was put ashore whereby all the crew of 104 were rescued by means of breeches buoy.

The Court of Inquiry found Captain Hayward had made two grave errors of judgement which had resulted in the stranding of his ship - although he was allowed to retain his Masters’ Certificate he was ordered to pay the costs of the inquiry. However, it was also said in conclusion ‘that on the Wiltshire after the stranding splendid work must have been done by the Master and officers under trying conditions. All the crew were saved, and nothing went wrong, a fact which must stand greatly to the credit of the Master and his officers’. Captain Hayward died at Knaresborough, Yorkshire on 16 May 1942. Sold with a quantity of copied research, including details of the incident and the subsequent court of inquiry.

With copied photographs.