Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A C.B. group of four awarded to Captain R. C. Allen, Royal Navy, Master of the Resolute during the Arctic expedition of 1850-51 in search of Sir John Franklin

The Most Honourable Order of The Bath, C.B. (Military) Companion’s breast badge, 18 carat gold and enamels, hallmarked London 1878, fitted with silver-gilt swivel-ring suspension and ribbon buckle; China 1842 (Robert C. Allen, Master, H.M.S. Vixen); Baltic 1854-55, unnamed as issued; Arctic 1818-55, unnamed as issued, very fine (4) £2500-3000

Robert Calder Allen was born at Plymouth, Devonshire, on 8 August 1812. He entered the Royal Navy as a Volunteer 2nd Class in June 1827. In that grade and as Second Master he served with credit, principally on the west coast of Africa and in China. In 1830, as Acting Master in the brig Plumper, on the coast of Africa, he succeeded in capturing, with two gigs under his orders, a Spanish slave schooner of 9 guns and 40 men. He passed for Master in December 1835 but was not appointed as such until August 1841, when he was appointed to the Vixen, in which ship he took part in the operations of 1842 at Yang-tse-Kiang. He was appointed to the Dido in October 1843, under Captain Hon. Henry Keppel, and in the boats of that vessel fought against the Sakarran pirates of Borneo in a manner that twice procured him notice in the despatches. In the expedition against the Sakarran stronghold at Karangan in August 1844, Allen worked a rocket tube in one of the gigs with some success. He was twice mentioned in despatches during these services.

It was on returning from this commission that Captain Keppel, upon reaching Portsmoth, learnt that his wife, whom he had not seen for four years, was staying only thirteen miles away, and that the Dido was ordered round to Sheerness to pay off. He therefore changed clothes with his Master, Robert Calder Allen, and instructed him both to personate his captain and to sail the ship round to the mouth of the Thames. Keppel, meanwhile, picked up his wife and drove with her across country in a yellow post-chaise to Sheerness. There he admitted his delinquency fully to the Captain Superintendent, William Shirreff, thanks to whose countenance he was able to again change clothes with Allen, after a three days’ absence, without raising the suspicion of the Commander in Chief.

Allen was appointed successively as Master of the Terrible, Fisgard, and Blenheim between December 1845 and February 1848, during which period he qualified for Line of Battle Ships. In March 1850 he was appointed Master of the Resolute under Captain H. T. Austin, whom he followed from the Blenheim, for the Arctic Expedition of 1850-51 in search of Sir John Franklin. During this time he led a travelling party to search Lowther and Garret Islands, being away from the ship for eighteen days and marching a distance of 137 miles. He received an additional daily allowance of 5/11 for taking charge of all ‘astronomical magnets and other observations’. The ship wintered over, frozen in between Cornwallis and Griffith Islands, and eventually returned to Woolwich in October 1851 to be paid off. Allen Bay on the south coast of Cornwallis Island is named after him.

After appointments to Fisgard and Magicienne, on Harbour duty, Allen was appointed to the Hogue in September 1852, again on Harbour duty until March 1854 when the ship went to the Baltic. For his services during the Baltic operations Allen was mentioned in despatches for the assistance he rendered in getting off H.M.S. Penelope when on shore under the batteries during the attack upon Bomarsund, and for his survey, often under fire, of Buro Sund and Led Sund in the approaches to Bomarsund. In 1863 he was promoted to the then new rank of Staff Commander, and in 1867 to that of Staff Captain. From 1864 to 1870, he was Master Attendent and Harbour Master, successively, at Malta, Devonport and Deptford. He retired in October 1870, was appointed a Companion of the Bath (Military) in June 1877, and, in July 1878, was awarded a Greenwich Hospital Pension of £80 per annum, in addition to his retired pay. Captain Allen died in London on 28 January 1903. The importance of his service is recognized by an entry in the Dictionary of National Biography which states, ‘He was a silent, thoughtful man, singularly modest and retiring. The subordinate position in which so much of his service was passed prevented his name from coming prominently before the public; but in the Navy his reputation as a sound and skilful navigator and pilot stood very high, and was officially recognised in his nomination to a C.B. in 1877.’