Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Board of Trade Medal for Gallantry in Saving Life at Sea, V.R., large, silver (Fred Brown wreck of the “Victoria” on the 19th November 1893.) edge nicks and contact marks, with small dig to obverse field, good very fine £300-£400

‘On the night of 19-20 November 1893, the strong northerly gale sweeping over the North Sea increased in strength throughout the night and veered to the north-east. Just before 1:00 a.m., the Aberdeen vessel Victoria was seen to be driving on the shelving beach in Bridlington Bay. Mr. Christopher ‘Kit’ Brown, his son Fred Brown, and three other fishermen put off in a 24 foot coble and took off the master and four men. Being told that another survivor remained aboard, they then managed to rescue him. The return journey was a nightmare experience, with snow and hail added to the fury of the wind and the sea, but everybody finally landed safely.’ (Lifeboat Gallantry, by Barry Cox refers).

For his gallantry, Fred Brown, his father Kit Brown, and the other three fishermen, were all also awarded the Royal National Lifeboat Institution Medal in silver.

The following account, taken from the Bridlington Tourist Board, gives further information:
‘In November 1893, another great storm struck the East Coast. Kit Brown had already gone to bed, but his sons Fred and Frank were still downstairs reading. Around midnight, Fred said he would take a walk onto the pier, to check that everything was all right. In the gale that swept the coast that particular night, all was not well. Fred saw a boat showing a flare – help was needed.
He ran back home and woke his father. Kit immediately ordered Fred to call Dick Purvis and Tom Clark, fellow fishermen who lived nearby. Kit then went to the harbour to the Swiftsure to prepare her for sea. She was a 24ft sailing coble owned by George Champlin. Fred called on Purvis and Clark, and they were making their way to the harbourside when they met Jack Usher. Jack said he couldn't sleep because the gale was rattling his windows. Hearing a ship was in distress he quickly joined the others as they made for Swiftsure.
Swiftsure had hardly reached the harbour mouth when a huge wave crashed into the pier, and water cascaded into the coble. One of the men remarked: “Don't you think it's a lot over much for a coble to go through, Kit?” Kit said they had come this far and could turn back if it became too much for them. Under full reefed sail, Swiftsure fought her way through the storm and neared the distressed vessel, Victoria, whose flare “cast a lurid light.” Aberdeen-owned, she was laden with cement.
There was no reply to the Swiftsure's first shouts and it was thought that they had been lost. Two of the men clambered aboard and found a crew unable to believe they were to be rescued. The captain stood “ramrod straight, clutching the wheel, with eyes like glass staring at the heavens.” The rescuers quickly led the men to Swiftsure. As they were about to return to harbour, one of the rescued gasped that the cook had been left behind. Taking their lives in their hands again, the local men climbed aboard and found him unconscious on a coil of rope in the galley. He too was transferred to Swiftsure.
No sooner had rescuers and rescued left Victoria than she plunged beneath the waves as her keel was torn away by the sand.
Despite the increasing ferocity of the storm, Kit's skill brought Swiftsure towards the harbour mouth. All he could see were a few lights on shore and the breakers pounding the pier. Kit steered the boat through the waves crashing over the sandbank which protected the entrance and brought them all to safety.
Within minutes all the men were on shore, the rescued taken to John Grantham's Waterloo Café, where the men had a hot bath, a meal and bed, paid for by the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society. The rescuers trudged home to bed.
At dawn the next day, much consternation was expressed at the wreck on the sands at low tide. It was assumed there would be corpses washed ashore and townsfolk started their grim search. When this news came to Kit Brown, he remarked that the crew was safe and well. He was disbelieved at first as no-one thought that a rescue could have been made in those conditions. On seeing the state of the sea when he joined others at the pier, Kit Brown is quoted as saying: “If I'd known it was that bad I might not have gone. The hand of God was surely on the tiller last night.”
The five local men became overnight heroes. They travelled all over the country to receive money collected in their honour. At one reception, Kit's speech included the words: “We were only doing our duty, saving others from a watery grave. Our mother is the sea and she shall not have them.” During this reception, Fred Brown was kissed by the young lady presenting the medals. She said: “I am now going to do what I may never have a chance again to do. Kiss the youngest hero I have ever met.” After the cheering died down, Fred responded: “I will go through it all again for another kiss like that.”’