Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria to coincide with the OMRS Convention

China 1857-60, no clasp (Master’s Asst. J. Cole, H.B.M.S. Retribution), contemporary engraved naming, contact wear and edge nicks, otherwise very fine, with attractive silver riband buckle and old portrait photograph £180-220

James Cole entered the Royal Navy as a Master’s Assistant aboard H.M.S. Retribution in February 1856, in which ship he served until December 1860 and was present at the bombardment of Nankin in 1858.

Advanced to 2nd Master in February 1862, Cole went on to witness extensive action in the fight against slavery off the East Coast of Africa, aboard the Penguin and Ariel, between 1862-64, frequently being employed in ‘boat cruising’ and on one occasion, on detachment from the Penguin, in a 23-foot cutter for a duration of 106 days. Considerable detail regarding the highly successful activities of these two ships may be found in Raymond Howell’s The Royal Navy and the Slave Trade, not least in respect of the individual record of Lieutenant J. G. Hardy, captain of the Penguin.

Hardy was a great believer in prevention being better than cure, prescribing his crew a rigid daily intake of quinine, in addition to copious quantities of tea, it being ‘most essential to the health of Englishmen that they should have a warm beverage morning and evening.’ In October 1862, during Cole’s time aboard, two of the Penguin’s boats, under a Sub-Lieutenant J. Fountaine, were ordered to cruise the North Coast of Zanzibar. No further news was heard from them, a subsequent investigation establishing that the Lieutenant and his men had been murdered by Somalis at a coastal village called Broeda. The local Consul, Mr. Playfair, and Penguin’s ship’s Officers quickly agreed that retribution was necessary, eight guilty Somalis, including a chief elder of a clan, being decapitated on the local beach. A few weeks later, the R.N. returned to execute another 15 men, although this last group comprised unfortunates who were ‘wholly innocent of the horrid crime for which they have suffered.’

Cole was promoted to Master in January 1865 and to Staff Commander in February 1875, in which latter rank he served aboard the royal yacht Victoria and Albert between 1884-89. He was next appointed Queen’s Harbour Master and Staff Captain of Chatham Dockyard and, in 1893, to the same post at Portsmouth. Then between 1900-01, he served on the Admiralty Mooring Committee, work that resulted in him receiving the thanks of their Lordships ‘for valuable services’ in connection with the berthing arrangements at Gibraltar and Dover. And in 1903 he carried out similar work in Bermuda, to re-moor the floating dock in Boss Cove, on completion of which he received another Admiralty commendation.

Cole appears to have retired to Portsea, Hampshire, where he died in 1925.