The Jack Boddington Collection of Life Saving Medals

Presentation Cigarette Case, 109 x 83 x 8mm., silver, with gilt interior, hallmarks for Birmingham 1955, interior of lid inscribed, ‘Presented by G. F. Sleight & Sons Ltd. Grimsby. As an expression of their gratitude & admiration to Mr G. Giblin, a voluntary member of the boats crew of the S/T “Ben Meidie” which went to the rescue of the crew of the S/T “Remindo” wrecked at Faroe 28th April 1955’, very 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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On 28 April the Grimsby steam trawler Remindo, with a crew of 15, was fishing off the west of Suderoe, the southernmost of the Faroe islands, when she was forced to take shelter because of a gale. The ship’s anchor broke and she was driven on to the rocks at Nypubakka. Sinking quickly, she managed to send out the message, ‘She is sliding into deep water. I must go now. If we don’t get out of this, give our love to our families’. Fortunately the Aberdeen steam trawler Ben Meidie was not too far distant and reaching the area was successful in picking up 14 of the 15 man crew (three were already dead). On 6 September 1955, at a ceremony in Aberdeen, Charles Gimmer the Captain of the Ben Meidie was presented with a gold watch inscribed with a tribute to his seamanship by Michael Sleight, a director of G. F. Sleight, owners of the Remindo. The members of the crew of the Ben Meidie were each awarded with a suitably inscribed cigarette case. Gimmer was later awarded the M.B.E. and the Silver Medal of the Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariner’s Royal Benevolent Society. The members of the crew were each awarded £5 by the Society. (See ‘The Wreck of the Remindo’, by Craig Barclay, L.S.A.R.S. 31, p.38-41 - the above case is referred to in the article). Sold with copied newspaper extracts and other research.