Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Lloyd’s Medal for Saving Life at Sea, 1st large type bronze medallion (George Hunt, Master of the Brig “Antelope of Ipswich”, 13th. December 1843) edge bruising, very fine £280-320

Provenance: Captain J. Hartford Collection, Glendining’s, September 1992.

George Hunt was awarded the Lloyd’s Medal for Saving Life at Sea for the rescue of the survivors of the crew of the Schooner James Walls, which had capsized in heavy seas near Le Havre: ‘On the 16th October, 1843, three vessels were stranded on the Leure Bank, by adverse wind and currents, during a gale. The wind was so strong that several persons on the beach had the tails of their frockcoats torn off. One of the ships wrecked was the James Walls, under the command of Captain Gowie, which was on passage from Sunderland to Rouen with a cargo of coal, and which stranded between Le Hoc and Les Neiges. The vessel capsized and lay on her side being buffeted by heavy seas, so the crew, to avoid being washed away, tied themselves in the shrouds. They had to remain in this perilous situation for some hours before help arrived. The rescue boat, under the command of Captain George Hunt, of the British brigantine Antelope, of Ipswich, accompanied by one man of his crew and 3 other English seamen, came alongside the stricken vessel and four of the James Walls’ crew, using the mast as a bridge, jumped, with great difficulty, to safety. The Masters’ brother and a boy were too exhausted to jump and they drowned. At low tide the crew of the English brig Peggy, of Newbury, under the command of Captain William Bell, succeeded in bringing back the bodies of the two men, unfortunately drowned, still tied to the mast.’ (Journal du Havre Commercial et Politique, 18 October 1843 refers).

‘Resolved that a Medal in Bronze to Captain George Hunt of the Brig Antelope of Ipswich; a Medal in Bronze to Captain William Bell, of the Brig Peggy of Newbury; and £5 to the four Men, who went off with them in the boat and rescued the survivors of the crew of the Schooner James Walls of Inverkeithing, stranded near Havre, 16th October 1843’ (Committee of Lloyd’s Minutes dated 13 December 1843 refers).