Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Royal National Lifeboat Institution, Sir William Hillary, silver (Colin H. Bryant, Voted 18th. January 1940.) with uniface ‘double dolphin’ suspension, on original investiture pin, in case of issue, extremely fine £800-£1,000

Colin H. Bryant was born in Farnham, Surrey, on 1 September 1890 and joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Second Class on 20 March 1907. He served as Coxswain of the Dover Motor Lifeboat from 1930 to 1940, and was awarded the Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s Silver Medal ‘in recognition of his courage and seamanship when the lifeboat under his command rescued the crew of sixteen of H.M. Trawler Blackburn Rovers, which was in distress off Dover in a whole W.S.W. gale with a very heavy sea on 26 November 1939.’

‘While H.M. Trawler Blackburn Rovers, with 16 men on board, was on an anti-submarine patrol near Dover, in rough seas and a south westerly gale, a wire fouled her propeller. The crew let go the anchor, but this failed to hold and the boat began drifting towards a mine field. The Dover lifeboat men were summoned and the 64 ft. ‘Special' lifeboat Sir William Hillary left harbour at 10 a.m., taking with her Lieutenant Richard Walker, R.N.R., the Assistant King’s Harbour Master, who had a chart showing the minefields in the area. In the heavy seas, it took nearly one and a quarter hours for the lifeboat to reach the disabled trawler, by which time she was right on the edge of a deep minefield. Although the boat herself could drift through this area without touching a mine, there was a grave danger that her anchor cable would come into contact with a mine. There was then the added problem that even if she passed through this particular minefield safely, the trawler would then enter a shallow minefield.

Coxswain Bryant took the lifeboat alongside, and Lieutenant Walker instructed the trawler’s crew to collect all the ship’s papers together and as much of her secret gear as they could and to pass them all over to the lifeboat and, before they abandoned ship, they were to scuttle the vessel. The trawler was rolling violently in the heavy seas, which by that time were breaking clean over her, and she offered no lee at all for the lifeboat. Coxswain Bryant had to use all his skill to hold the lifeboat in position while the papers and gear were transferred, and his two Mechanics had great difficulty in remaining at the engine controls, so violent was the motion of the lifeboat.

By that time, they were all well aware that they were right in the middle of the minefield, but still the work went on of transferring the gear. At any moment, the trawler’s anchor cable could have fouled a mine blowing them up. It took over an hour to get all the gear on board the lifeboat before the crew of 16 were rescued. Coxswain Bryant turned the lifeboat round and set course for home. They then had to face the full fury of the storm and speed had to be reduced to 6 knots. Coxswain Bryant had only recently recovered from a very serious illness, consequently he handed over the wheel to the Second Coxswain during the journey back. Huge seas repeatedly crashed over the lifeboat and it took them 3 hours to reach Dover Harbour, arriving there at 3.30 p.m.’ (Lifeboat Gallantry, by Barry Cox refers).

For this action Bryant was awarded the R.N.L.I. Silver Medal; and Lieutenant Richard Walker, R.N.R.; Second Coxswain Sidney Hills; Mechanic Wilfred Cook; and Second Mechanic Christian Stock, were all awarded the R.N.L.I. Bronze Medal.

Bryant died on 13 March 1941.

Sold with the recipient’s R.N.L.I. Silver Medal Certificate, dated 18 January 1940; and R.N.L.I. Certificate of Service, dated 17 April 1941, these both mounted in glazed display frames; and copied research.