Auction Catalogue

22 September 2006

Starting at 11:30 AM

.

Orders, Decorations and Medals

Grand Connaught Rooms  61 - 65 Great Queen St  London  WC2B 5DA

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Lot

№ 1098

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22 September 2006

Hammer Price:
£4,900

Arctic Medal 1818-55, unnamed as issued, good very fine, with rare forwarding letter £1500-1800

The medal awarded to Richard Lloyd, an Able Seaman on the Fury, for service in the Arctic during 1821-23. The expedition to discover the North West Passage, began in May 1821 and was led by Commander Parry in the Fury, in company with Commander Lyon in her sister ship the Hecla. Based on his previous experience, Parry led his ships from the Hudson Strait, via the Foxe Channel towards Repulse Bay. Finding the bay to be part of the landlocked Melville Peninsula they then proceeded north along the coast of the Peninsula looking for an outlet to the west until, with the seas becoming icebound they were obliged to seek winter quarters on the Peninsula. In the summer of 1822 they again sailed north, discovering the narrows between Melville Peninsula and Baffin Island, which Parry named the Fury and Hecla Straits. Ice again prevented further progress and a second winter was spent in the vicinity of Igloolik to the N.E. of the Peninsula. The deterioration in the health of the crew prevented any further progress and in the summer the ships returned home, reaching Deptford in November 1823.

Sold with a rare Admiralty forwarding letter which accompanied the Arctic Medal. The letter, 29.5 x 19cm. (approx.) on blue paper, is part preprinted and part handwritten in ink, ‘Admiralty, Somerset House, W.C., 20th May 1857, Richard Lloyd, As requested in your Letter of the 12th instant I enclose the Medal to which you are entitled for the Arctic - Fury. 1/Arctic Medal. I am, Your most obedient Servant, [signature], Accountant General of the Navy’. Addressed to ‘St. Ann’s Lights, near Milford, Pembrokes’. The medal and letter neatly mounted in a wooden glass-fronted case; the letter showing slight discoloration and fold marks.