Naval Medals from the Collection of the Late Jason Pilalas (Part I)

An extremely rare Arctic M.S.M. pair awarded to Quarter Master John Davis, H.M.S. Investigator

Arctic 1818-55, unnamed as issued; Arctic Meritorious Service Medal, Arctic Expedition 1854 (John Davis, Qr. Mr., H.M.S. Investigator) fitted with scroll suspension, very fine and better (2) £10,000-£14,000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Naval Medals from the Collection of the Late Jason Pilalas.

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Collection

Formerly in the collection of Captain Douglas-Morris who owned both known examples.

One of only four Arctic Meritorious Service Medals awarded, with all recipients belonging to the Investigator on its historic voyage of 1850-53 which resulted in the discovery of the North West Passage. The Arctic Meritorious Service Medal is the first officially awarded medal for service in the Arctic and paved the way for the Arctic Medal 1818-55 which was instituted in May 1857 (vide Naval Medals 1793-1856 by Captain K. J. Douglas-Morris).

John Davis/Davies, born at Teignmouth, Devon, joined the Navy aboard H.M.S. Poictiers in September 1842 as an Ordinary Seaman at the age of 21. He was advanced to the rate of Quarter Master on 15 April 1853, aboard the ice-bound Investigator in Mercy Bay - a few days after the crew had been visited by Lieutenant Pim from H.M.S. Resolute bringing news of their impending rescue. A medical survey was carried out on the Investigator’s crew a month later, revealing that John Davies ‘… has been 93 days under treatment for scurvy, 55 days in 1853 and 38 days in 1852. The gums are now tumid, livid and supporating …’ On 17 October 1854, soon after John Davies had returned home to England aboard H.M.S. North Star, he left the Navy after serving some 12 years.

His advancement to Petty Officer status in the latter part of Investigator’s Commission caused a small problem when the apportionment of the £5,000 Parliamentary gratuity were being calculated. The Accountant General requested instructions from the Admiralty Board as to whether John Davies should share in the Parliamentary Grant as an A.B. or Quartermaster. The decision was minuted in customary laconic style ‘… to share as an A.B. …’, dated 7 November 1855. Thus his share was reduced from that due to a Q.M. of £87-8-4 to that for an A.B. of £29-1-5. If John Davies had left the navy with the expectation of receiving a small fortune, he must have been disappointed indeed.