Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Belgian group of four awarded to Ship’s Steward Constant van Hoydonck - awarded the Order of St. John Lifesaving Medal for his courage and resourcefulness during a mutiny aboard the British sailing ship Lennie

Belgium, Order of Leopold I, Chevalier’s breast badge, unilingual, silver, gold and enamel, in case of issue, some enamel damage to wreath; Royal and Central Life Saving Society Medal for Life Saving, inscribed on reverse, ‘C. van Hoydonck’, 32mm., silver-gilt, rosette on ribbon; Royal and Central Life Saving Society Honorary Member’s Medal, 26mm., silver-gilt, rosette on ribbon; Order of St. John Lifesaving Medal, 1st type, silver (Constant van Hoydonck voted 1876) with embroidered ribbon, last with edge bruise, very fine and better (4) £900-1200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, An Old Collection of Medals Relating to The Great War.

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The Order of St. John instituted their life saving medal on 15 December 1874 and created a Register to record numerically, all the recipients and their deeds.

Medals number 4 in silver and number 5 in bronze were awarded to Constant van Hoydonck, Ship’s Steward, and Henry Trousselot, Cabin Boy, both of the British sailing ship Lennie.

‘For marked courage and judgement, resulting in the saving of life and property, and the subsequent conviction of the murderers concerned in the mutiny on board the British ship Lennie on the high seas on October, 31st, 1875. The Chapter regarding the ship as part of the Queen’s dominion, awarded accordingly, and the medals were presented through the Dutch and Belgian Ministers in June, 1876.’

The mutiny came about when the Captain of the Lennie yelled at the crew after ropes became tangled during a tricky tack. The harsh words prompted a crew member to draw a knife and stab the captain. Within a few minutes the two mates were also killed by other crew members. Constant van Hoydonck, a Belgian steward, tried to save the officers, but was restrained and locked below decks. However, the mutineers did not know how to navigate and Hoydock was brought back on deck and ordered to sail for Greece. Instead he secretly sailed for England. When the mutineers suspected they were travelling in the wrong direction, Van Hoydonck convinced them they should moor off the coast of France and wait for better winds. Meanwhile the Steward and Cabin Boy were frantically bottling up rescue notes and dropping them over the side. Van Hoydonck eventually bluffed his captors into believing the coastline was not policed and six of the leading mutineers went ashore. The Steward and Cabin Boy were finally rescued when a French navy vessel found one of the bottled messages. All the mutineers were eventually captured and four were hanged.

For his services he was additionally awarded the Belgian Order of Leopold and the Gold Life Saving Medal.