Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners Royal Benevolent Society, silver (Robt. Giddy.) with ‘double-dolphin’ suspension, minor edge bruise, good very fine £240-£280

Robert Giddy, a seaman in H.M.S. Bombay, was awarded the Silver Medal, together with a gratuity of £1, 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.