Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Indian Mutiny 1857-59, no clasp (2790 John Fitzgibbons. H.Ms. 27th Regt.) attempted erasure of regimental number, suspension post replaced, contact marks, good fine £140-£180

John Fitzgibbons sailed with the 27th Regiment to India on board the hired transport Charlotte and survived the shipwreck of the vessel on the coast of Cape Colony at Algoa Bay on 20 September 1854. The survivors later proceeded to Calcutta and took part in the suppression of the Indian Mutiny, for which they were eventually awarded medals in 1869. He was discharged in the rank of Sergeant in 1875.

On 19 September 1854, the hired transport Charlotte, with a detachment of the 27th Foot on board, bound for Calcutta, put into Port Elizabeth for water. The ship was under the command of Captain Affleck and had left Queenstown with five officers and 163 men of the 27th Foot, 14 women and 26 children and a crew of 24. On the day following her arrival a heavy storm blew up and at 5 o’clock the Charlotte signalled that her cables had parted; by 8 p.m. she had drifted ashore. During the night the wreck was pounded to pieces and at 1 a.m. on the 21st it broke in two, while thousands of onlookers lined the water’s edge unable to render any assistance.

The Port Elizabeth lifeboat made three journeys to the ship, which proved out of reach of the rocket apparatus, but on the fourth journey it was wrecked, all the crew escaping. By daybreak little of the Charlotte remained, and 18 of the crew, 62 soldiers and, poignantly, 11 of the 14 women and all 26 of the children were drowned. The survivors numbered 115, including Captain Affleck who was saved by his son.