Auction Catalogue

13 October 2021

Starting at 10:00 AM

.

Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

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Lot

№ 78

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13 October 2021

Hammer Price:
£1,600

Three: Ship’s Cook Thomas Martin, Royal Navy

Baltic 1854-55, unnamed as issued; China 1857-60, no clasp, unnamed as issued; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., V.R., wide suspension (Ts. Martin Shps Cook H.M.S. D of Wellington. 21 Yrs.) the first two with light contact marks, otherwise good very fine (3) £700-£900

Campaign entitlement added for display purposes.

Thomas Martin was born at Devonport, Devon, on 16 July 1829, and served in the Royal Navy as a stoker aboard H.M.S. Vulture, December 1852 to June 1856 (Baltic Medal; Sub Officer’s Cook aboard H.M.S. Tribune, June 1856 to August 1860 (China Medal); Ship’s Cook aboard H.M.S. Ariel, September 1860 to December 1864; and thereafter, always as Ship’s Cook, aboard H.M.S. Orontes, July 1865 to January 1866; H.M.S. Cormorant, January 1866 to June 1869; H.M.S. Rodney, June 1869 to April 1870; H.M.S. Serapis, April 1870 to July 1874; and finally H.M.S. Duke of Wellington, 1 August to 23 September, 1874.

Whilst serving as Ship’s Cook aboard H.M.S.
Ariel 1860-64, Thomas Martin most probably met David Livingstone when he dined aboard Ariel when off Mozambique in 1864, under circumstances recounted later by one of his shipmates, Mr James Harding White:

‘From 1859 to 1864 I was an Able Seaman on the sloop
Ariel, nine guns, engaged in the suppression of the slave trade along the east coast of Africa, which was conducted principally by Arabs and Portuguese.

Our cruising ground extended from Simon’s Bay to the Persian Gulf, and cargos of kidnapped natives were mostly overhauled in the region of Mozambique, bound for Muscat. We captured 46 prizes in all, 45 of them dhows, and one a Spanish vessel, called the
America, of about 700 tons.

In February 1864, Dr Livingstone wished to take his little steamer, the
Lady Nyassa, from the mouth of the Zambesi to Bombay, and it was arranged that the Ariel should yow him as far as Zanzibar, while the British corvette Orestes was to do a similar service for the Pioneer, a small paddle steamer, which used to assist Livingstone in his work in the interior of Africa by conveying dispatches and provisions to him. It happened that we encountered terribly bad weather and the Orestes and her charge got separated from the Ariel and the Lady Nyassa. I believe those on board gave up hope of ever seeing us at Zanzibar. Livingstone insisted upon remaining on his own little cockleshell, and he had a dreadfully rough passage. Three times the hawser parted, and it was exceedingly difficult and risky work to get it on board again. On one occasion, at the top of the gale, a young liberated slave, whom we had with us on the Ariel, plunged into the boiling sea, and swam with a line to the Lady Nyassa. The odds against him succeeding were tremendous, but he managed to get there, and when the Lady Nyassa dipped into a trough of waves he was able to grasp hold of her bow and clamber on board. It was the most wonderful swimming feat I have ever witnessed.

The storm lulled before Zanzibar was reached, and Livingstone came on board
Ariel twice to dine with Capt. Chapman and his officers. Our first lieutenant was afterwards Admiral Sir Henry Fairfax, who was on the Australian station in the H.M.S. Orlando. Dr Livingstone used to chat pleasantly with the members of the crew and at the end of the trip he personally thanked everyone for the kindness accorded him and the seamanship shown in towing his craft through the gale.’