Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners Royal Benevolent Society, silver (Thos. Lee.) with ‘double-dolphin’ suspension, edge prepared prior to naming, suspension slightly loose, nearly extremely fine £300-£400

Provenance: Spink, December 1971; Spink, April 2009.

James Lee was born in Stoke, Devon, on 1 March 1841 and joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Second Class on 31 August 1855. He was serving as a Sailmaker’s Mate in H.M.S. Bombay, and was awarded the Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners Royal Benevolent Society’s Silver Medal for his gallantry in saving the lives of his crew when the Bombay caught fire in the River Plate and sank off Montevideo on 22 December 1864. Of the crew of 619, over 500 were saved, but 93 lives were lost, in one of the Royal Navy’s worst peacetime disasters.

Sub-Lieutenant Henry Mandeville was awarded the Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners Royal Benevolent Society’s Gold Medal for this action; and 13 ratings, including Lee, were awarded the Silver Medal.

Sold with copied record of service, and other research relating to the sinking of the Bombay.