Sunday, 8 February 2015

Poem ~ Gallantry Medals For Fishermen - Monday, 8 February 1915


Source: File:Crew of the Brixham Fishing Vessel Providence.jpg, 2015. Captain Pillar, John Clark, William Carter and young Daniel Taylor. The Daily Telegraph. [online] Available at:<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11393517/Daily-Telegraph-February-8-1915.html> [Accessed: 8 February 2015].

Source: File: Sea Gallantry Medal, George V small type, in silver.jpg, 2014. Specialist Medals Date: 27/12/2009. Added by: Roger. [online] Available at:<http://www.specialistmedals.com/photogallery.php?photo_id=25> [Accessed: 8 February 2015].


At Buckingham Palace arrived sailors
And fishermen, to number eleven -
Presented to the King were given
The Board of Trade Silver Medal -
In their gallantry for saving lives at sea.

From the Board of Trade these brave
Awardees, were conveyed by motor
Cars - to arrive 10.30 a.m. at the Palace
To receive their investiture at 11 a.m.

At the sinking of the HMS Formidable,
In the English Channel - by torpedo -
Came the crew and their skipper,
Of the Brixham - a Westcountry Trawler 
Who carried out an act of brave rescue.

These men were alongside a group
Who had been at the Volturno disaster -
One man to meet the king, was to gain
A medal from the Banshee disaster -
With others there, at the sinking of the D5
Submarine struck by a German mine.

Others to attend the King, included
Representations of the Admiralty
With Equerries, a Lord and Groom
In waiting - master of the Household,
And the Registrar of the Medal.

Mr Runciman - president of the Board
Of Trade - read aloud all recorded
Accounts, for each individual, or group,
Presented for their recognized service,
That King George would then honour.

Without great formality of speeches,
King George shook each man's hand,
After attaching the medals to their
Lapels - with words of commendation.

For the peacetime crew of steamers
That rushed to the aid of the Volturno
In 1913 - unable to subdue the fire
Aboard, to rescue 520 souls  - in all,
Men of the Devonian of Liverpool
And of Rappahannock and Belfast's
Minneapolis, were presented awards.

An event in the North Atlantic on 17
January 1914, where the Banshee,
A Schooner, was aided by steamship
Cornishman  - whose lifeboat launch,
Manned by six - saw the to the safety
Of five crew hands, in the rough sea.

With the loss of British Submarine D5,
Striking a mine on 3 November 1914,
The steam drifter Faithful  - the skipper
James Collin aware of other mines
Took without any hesitation, their
Help to save four out of the five crew.

Under their own heading, a special
Note was made, for 1 January 1915,
When his majesty's Ship Formidable,
Come to grief in the English Channel -
With sixty nine men and two warrant
Officers, adrift upon a frail launch.

Within view of the trawler Provident.
Which ranged forward, in heavy seas
And gales, to get alongside to throw
Out a line - making threes failed tries.

The fourth attempt gained success -
With risk to the trawler, by a gybe
Maneuver, the launch sat alongside,
To take men aboard, back to Brixham.

From the Merchant Shipping act 1854.
Defined the award for their civil acts
Of gallantry, these men - crews of
Ordinary trawlers and steam ships,
Behaved in a brave manner, beyond
Any thoughts for their own safety.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. King and Heroes - Medals for Seamen - Fishermen Decorated. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 8 Jan. P.11. Col.4. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11393517/Daily-Telegraph-February-8-1915.html [Accessed: 8 February 2015].

Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 8 February 2015). 



#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #ww1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered

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