Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Arctic Medal 1875-76 (Wm. H. Edwards, Ship’s Steward, Yacht Pandora.) very fine £1,800-£2,200

The crew of the Pandora only qualified for the Arctic Medal for their second - not first - voyage to the North-West passage. This is made clear in the Statute, quoted in Tancred, in which the dates of qualification for the crew of Pandora are given as 3 June 1876 and 2 November 1876. The reason for this, presumably, is that whereas the first voyage was a purely private venture, on the second the ship was officially entrusted with commissions from the Admiralty, for the carrying out of which she had laid aside her own plans. This would mean that only 33 ‘Pandora’ medals were issued (on application only) - unless one was sent to the Greenlander [Mr. Christian Anthone] who joined the crew at Godhavn and, of course, disembarked there on the return journey.

William Henry Edwards is confirmed as serving as Ship’s Steward on both the first and second voyages of the Pandora. Powered by sail and single screw, the wooden Pandora was commissioned into the Royal Navy in March 1863 and was subsequently purchased in 1867 from the Admiralty and fitted out as an Arctic Yacht by Captain (later Sir) Allen Young of the Merchant Service; Messrs. Day and Summers of Southampton undertook the lengthy and expensive work involved and by the opening months of 1875 the ship was ready for the rigours of Arctic exploration.

The First voyage of 1875 under Captain Young entailed the search for the North-West passage and the related hope that further information might be found of the ships Erebus and Terror which were abandoned with tragedy in 1848. Discovering Peel Strait ice-blocked, the Pandora faced a desperate race against the weather and ice culminating in her ramming the floes to escape encirclement: ‘-hoping that Pandora’s hull was stronger than the ice. So, thankfully, it proved to be and the brave little ship was once again in the open sea.’

There being no hope to achieve the primary objective, Captain Young had to content himself with scientific research and exploration in the area of the Cary Islands before setting course for England on 11 September 1875.

The Second Voyage

A further attempt was already planned for the following year when, in October 1875, Captain Young received an official invitation from the Admiralty to act as communications ship between Littleton Island and Cape Isabella for the naval Expedition planned for the following year under Captain Nares. This welcome opportunity was given priority over Captain Young’s North-West passage aspirations and in early 1876 another crew was assembled, including Greenfield: ‘Applications well outnumbered vacancies and only the best were chosen.’

17 members of the 1875 crew were reengaged and 16 new men were taken on, making a total of 33. They included two officers of the British Navy, one each of the Dutch and Austrian Navies, a Surgeon, a Photographer [both civilians] and the First and Second Engineers. The men were mostly recruited from those who had previously served under Captain Young and whom he knew and trusted. The departure from Portsmouth on 23 May 1876 was a somewhat low key affair, and a particularly uncomfortable first stage bode ill to come as adverse winds, severe storms and mountainous seas dogged her path all the way to Greenland. Neither were spirits to be raised at Godhavn; here, the main harbour stores had just been destroyed in a serious fire and everyone ashore was worried and dispirited.

Enrolling Christian Anthone as dog driver, Pandora pursued her northward journey with all speed, only to find herself in the most hazardous situation of her life. Thick fog and the danger of grounding had made it advisable to anchor overnight to a floe south of Brown Island. As on the earlier voyage, floes were suddenly seen to be thickening and the wind rapidly increasing. But this time the process was too sudden and widespread to allow any hope of escape. The ship was therefore caught in the vice-like grip of the ice pack, the storm still raging. Sent out onto the ice, the crew attempted to blow holes in the pack using explosives in the desperate hope that the resultant cracks might relieve some pressure from the hull of the unfortunate Pandora, now in imminent danger of splitting to pieces. The rest of the crew, meanwhile, were hastily bringing as much as possible of the ship’s stores on deck preparatory to abandoning ship when she broke up:

‘The night of 24th July was one which no “Pandora” man was ever likely to forget. Again and again, when it seemed as if the ship could stand no more, the pack would ease slightly -only to renew, once again, its fierce pressure. Dawn brought some relief - at least the storm abated - but it was to be four agonising days before the pack loosened sufficiently to allow “Pandora” to force herself, yard by yard, to the open sea.’

Having escaped with the ship and their lives, the remainder of the expedition was dogged by foul weather and communication failures. The one Admiralty request that was successfully carried out involved the finding and recording of a good, sheltered anchorage on Littleton Island; this was named Pandora Harbour and was used repeatedly over the following weeks when the weather made the open sea an unhealthy place. Eventually, a dispirited Captain and crew prepared, reluctantly, to return home to England, having witnessed not a trace of the Naval ships that they were supposed to have been supporting. Pandora dropped anchor in Portsmouth Harbour amidst atrocious weather on 3 November 1876, Captain Young later noting in his dispatch to the Admiralty: ‘My ship’s company all conducted themselves to my entire satisfaction.’ - No lightly-earned compliment given all that they had been through.

Edwards’ original medal was “sent” to H.M.S. Nelson, 21 May 1877. Two duplicate medals were supplied later, the first on 18 January 1893 also to the Nelson, and the second “Delivered Party”, 19 November 1904. It is likely that this medal is one of the duplicates, given that it is named ‘Yacht Pandora’.