Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Able Seaman G. Bailey, Royal Navy and H.M. Coast Guard

South Africa 1877-79, 1 clasp, 1879 (A.B., H.M.S. “Shah”); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., V.R. (Boatman, H.M. Coast Guard), impressed naming, minor contact marks, very fine (2) £340-380

Prior to arriving at the Cape for the Zulu campaign of 1879, the British iron-hulled frigate Shah took part in the engagement with the Peruvian iron-clad turret ship Huascar on 29 May 1877. In company with the wooden corvette Amethyst, the Shah engaged the rebel iron-clad in a 3 hour battle. However, the Huascar managed to escape to shallow waters at the close of day and a subsequent cutting out expedition also failed. In the action, the Shah fired the first locomotive torpedo to be used in anger ... but missed.