Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Arctic Medal 1875-76 (G. Smithers. Captns. Coxn. Pandora.) a little polished and some light marks, otherwise very fine and very scarce £5,000-£7,000

Only 60 Arctic 1875-76 medals issued to the officers and crew of Pandora.

It is almost certain that this man is the same as the George William Smithers who was born at Southsea, Hampshire, on 17 September 1849. He entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class in Boscawen on 22 September 1863, at the age of 14, having been at sea before this. On attaining 18 years he took a Continuous Service engagement for ten years. There is no record of his early career but, on 15 September 1871, he had left Duke of Wellington ‘for passage’, joined Repulse on 23 July 1872 and been transferred to Tenedos 27 November 1872, also ‘for passage’ to Boxer. He left Tenedos on 9 January 1873 to join Boxer ‘stationed at Vancouver Island’. He was advanced to Leading Seaman on 9 January 1874 and received a second GCB on 17 September 1875, but then obtained his discharge by purchase on 8 October 1875, at a cost of £12. George Smithers joined Pandora seven months later on 16 May 1876, as Able Seaman and Captain’s Coxswain, and probably left her in early November 1876 after her return to Portsmouth on 3 November. Interestingly, Nares had been Captain of Boscawen when Smithers had been under training in her.
Pandora was a private yacht owned and commanded by Commander Allen Young R.N.R. who wrote an account of his voyages The Two Voyages of the Pandora in 1875 and 1875 (London 1879), some extracts from which accompany this medal, together with other copied research.