Presentation Cigarette Box, 144 x 85 x 30mm., silver, with wooden interior and base, upper left corner of lid set with an enamelled pennant bearing the letters ‘D.S.’, the lid interior inscribed, ‘In Remembrance of Valuable Assistance to M/S Vingnes 1959’, velvet on case underside in part detached, good condition £100-140

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Jack Boddington Collection of Life Saving Medals.

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In August 1959, the ship Vingnes of the Norwegian shipping firm Halfdan, Ditlev, Simonsen & Co Ltd. was in trouble in Canada’s Hudson Bay. The ship’s radio, navigation equipment and life boats had been destroyed and many areas of the vessel damaged in a fire that had claimed one life. She was two days overdue in Churchill, Manitoba when her company agent asked for help in locating her.

Captain E. L. Kelso the Department of Transport Ice Information Officer at Halifax was notified of the missing vessel and immediately initiated a search. Captain Kelso from his department ice reconnaissance plane located the M.S. Vingnes the following day, some 100 miles from Churchill, completely lost and heading for dangerous waters. When the aircraft came in sight, the Vingnes made signals as best it could that it needed help. Churchill’s authorities were notified by Captain Kelso and the Department of Transport icebreaker Ernest Lapointe, captained by Robert Marchand, went to the rescue. The Vingnes later, with the Ernest Lapointe at her side was able to make her way slowly into Churchill. Silver Cigarette boxes bearing the pennant of the shipping firm were later presented to Captain E. L. Kelso and Captain Robert Marchand for their services. Sold with newspaper cuttings and copied research.