The extremely rare Empire Gallantry Medal pair awarded to Coxswain and R.N.L.I. Gold Medallist John Howells, Fishguard Lifeboat

Empire Gallantry Medal, G.V.R., Civil Division (John Howells); Royal National Lifeboat Institution, G.V.R., gold (John Howells, Voted 17th December 1920.) good very fine or better (2) £7,000-£9,000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Naval Medals from the Collection of the Late Jason Pilalas.

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A total of 130 Empire Gallantry Medals were awarded in the period 1922-40, 62 Military, 64 Civil, and 4 Honorary awards. The Empire Gallantry Medal was superseded by the George Cross in September 1940 and surviving holders of the E.G.M. were required to exchange their award for the George Cross. Coxswain Howells had by this time died and his award is, therefore, in addition to the four Honorary awards which were not eligible for exchange, one of only ten E.G.M’s not exchanged for the George Cross.

11 Gold R.N.L.I. Medals and one Bar awarded during the reign of King George V, from a total of 118 gold awards from 1824-1996.

E.G.M. London Gazette 30 June 1924:
‘Ex-Coxswain John Howells, Fishguard Motor Life-Boat. For rescuing, in circumstances of great peril, seven of the crew of the motor schooner Hermina of Rotterdam, which was wrecked in a N.W. gale on Needle Rock, off Fishguard, on the night of 3rd December 1920. To effect the rescue involved taking the life-boat into a position of great danger among rocks.’

Coxswain Howells was also awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, together with three Silver and nine Bronze awards to the crew members of his life-boat:
‘3 December 1920. The three masted Dutch motor schooner Hermina, anchored outside Fishguard breakwater, Pembrokeshire, was dragging her anchors in a north-westerly gale. The self-righting motor lifeboat Charterhouse launched but, when she arrived, the schooner was grinding heavily on the rocks with tremendous seas making a clean breach over her. Veering down, in spite of great difficulties, seven men were taken off but the Master and two Mates refused to leave. Coxswain Howells prepared to return to Fishguard, but the lifeboat had sprung a leak and it was found impossible to restart her engine. Her sail was hoisted, but she lost her mizzen sail, which left her with only the mainsail set. Second Coxswain Davies and crew member Holmes succeeded in setting the jib sail and, although waterlogged, the lifeboat managed to reach her station at midnight, three hours later. Although flares were shortly after seen from the Hermina, the lifeboat was unable to return, and the schooner’s Master and First Mate were rescued by life saving apparatus; the Second Mate had drowned.’

In April, 1921, Coxswain Howells, his crew and lifeboat went on the train to London to receive their R.N.L.I. awards. Howells was 66 years old at the time of the rescue. As part of the R.N.L.I. Centenary celebrations in 1924, seven of the eight surviving Gold medallists were received at Buckingham Palace on 30 June by King George V, who presented each man with the Empire Gallantry Medal.

The Charterhouse was the Fishguard Lifeboat from 1901 to 1931. It was instrumental in many gallant rescues but none more so than the famous rescue of the crew of the Dutch motor schooner Hermina at needle rock located between Fishguard lower town and Dinas Head.
She was the first motorised lifeboat but also had the capacity for up to 12 persons to row.

In 1920 Coxwain John Howells aged 66, received a call that flares had been sighted at needle rock and so on that cold dark December night he immediately put the Charterhouse to sea in perilous conditions and made way across the bay for needle rock.
The Hermina under the command of Captain Vooitgedacht was on a return journey back to Rotterdam but diverted to Fishguard to escape the teeth of the strong NW gale. Once in the bay she dragged her anchors and ended up in a perilous position, being bashed by huge waves in between needle rock and the tall sheer north cliffs. Once the Charterhouse arrived, Howells gave order to anchor down wind and run a line between the two vessels, but this proved very perilous and after an hour of struggling against horrendous seas, the crew of the Charterhouse managed to get 7 men off the Hermina. The Chief Officer and Mate would not leave the ship despite the efforts of persuasion by the lifeboat crew. They were later rescued from the base of the cliffs by the coastguard.
Their troubles at this point were far from over, the lifeboat’s engine would not restart and in a desperate situation the crew took to the oars in a frantic effort to get away from the cliffs but with little effect. The mizzen sail was then raised but caught the wind and ripped to shreds. In absolute frantic desperation a jib sail was lashed together which involved two men risking their lives climbing across the forefront of the lifeboat with waves crashing over them to set a temporary sail. In great relief they managed to pull away from the cliffs and sail 2 miles out to sea before getting sufficient angle to eventually be able to sail back into Goodwick harbour.
The Dutch Government awarded Howells a gold pocket watch and silver pocket watches to all the lifeboat crew; the R.N.L.I. also awarded medals to all the crew of the Charterhouse and to John Howells the highest honour of a gold medal.
The Charterhouse was loaded onto a train at Goodwick railway station and the entire crew made for London to meet the Duke of Windsor, President of the R.N.L.I. to receive their medals. The Charterhouse remained for one week on display outside the houses of parliament.
The Charterhouse now resides at the West Wales Maritime Museum in Pembroke Dock where she is undergoing restoration to preserve this very important piece of Pembrokeshire maritime history.

John Howells, as a young man served in the Royal Navy and was a shipmate of King George, then a naval cadet.
On leaving the Navy, he entered the service of the Great Western Railway Company, and when Fishguard Harbour was opened for Irish traffic in 1907, he was put in charge of the coaling gang at the harbour under the Marine Department. He was a deacon of Bethesda Baptist Church, for many years its Honorary Treasurer, and Superintendent of the Sunday School. He was Coxswain of the Fishguard Lifeboat from 1910-21 and died at Fishguard on 14 March 1925, aged 72.