Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A scarce and early Albert Medal Second Class awarded to Mr. T. Jones, for saving the life of a sailor from the wreck of the Marmion, off the coast of Falmouth, 17 March 1867

Albert Medal, 2nd Class, for Gallantry in Saving Life at Sea, bronze and enamel, reverse officially engraved ‘Wreck of the Marmion 17th March 1867 Presented in the name of Her Majesty to Theophilus Jones’, reverse of the crown with maker’s cartouché Phillips, Cockspur St., and officially numbered ‘No. 11’, with original narrow riband, and top silver riband buckle, in embossed leather case of issue, named ‘Presented in the name of Her Majesty to Theophilus Jones for Gallantry in Saving Life at Sea’, very fine £4,000-£5,000

A.M. London Gazette 28 June 1867 (in a joint citation with James Hudson, an Apprentice of the Maid of Orleans, of Ardrossan):

‘The Marmion of North Shields, on the 17th March last, drove from her anchors and was stranded on the Cornish Coast at Gylynvase, near Pendennis Castle, Falmouth. The wind at the time was blowing strong with squalls - the tide was first quarter flood. At ten a.m. the ship was in the midst of breakers, and often entirely covered with surf, and no communication with the shore appeared possible. The Master and one of the crew died on board from exposure and exhaustion.
After an ineffectual attempt had been made to communicate with the shore by means of a line tied to a stool and thrown overboard from the ship, James Hudson, a youth of seventeen, an apprentice belonging to the Maid of Orleans, then lying at Falmouth, volunteered to swim off to the vessel. He was at first dissuaded from the attempt, for it was thought that he would lose his life. But he persisted, and the Coast Guard attached to him their life lines and guided him afloat. He had neither jacket or belt on. He was soon in the midst of a heavy sea, and in a short time got to the stern of the vessel, and after three attempts to reach the deck swung himself on board by the aid of a spar hanging over the side. The line attached to Hudson effected a communication between the ship and the shore, and six of the crew were rescued by a hawser and running gear then set up.
Hudson was compelled, by his want of clothing, to return when he had been about a quarter of an hour on board. His distress in returning was great. He expected to have been pulled on shore, but the running gear had fouled and he was obliged to pull himself hand over hand along the hawser to the shore. He was very much exhausted, and without assistance would probably not have succeeded in landing himself upon the beach. There still remained one man alive on board, but he was too weak to fasten around himself the cork jacket with which he had been supplied. In this emergency Theophilus Jones, who had a line but no jacket or belt on, threw himself into the sea, and after two or three unsuccessful attempts, reached the vessel, and was lifted on board by the waves and by the aid of a spar which hung over the side. He succeeded in fastening a cork jacket round the seaman and pushed him overboard, and this man too was saved. Jones was some time in the surf; he was very much benumbed and exhausted when he arrived on shore.’

Sold with a photographic image of the recipient wearing his Albert Medal.