Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Keystone Auction 7 6 Jul 2022
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Shipwrecked Fishermen & Mariners Royal Benevolent Society – Annual Subscription. WM Medal (32mm, 8.78 g, 12h). By J. Davis. Dated 1873. ENGLAND EXPECTS EVERY MAN WILL DO HIS DUTY within garter, uniformed bust left; NO in left field / SHIPWRECKED MARINERS SOCIETY • 1873 •, shipped wrecked against rocks in heavy seas. Slit for ribbon as made. Hardy 94; BHM –; Eimer –. Light scratches, modern(?) ribbon attached. EF. Unissued.
From the J. Eric Engstrom Collection.
Like many coastal English communities, the people of the village of Clovelly relied on the sea for their livelihoods. On Sunday, 28 October 1838, twelve vessels sailed from Clovelly for the fishing grounds. En route, the fishermen were battered by a brutal storm, leaving only one surviving boat, decimating the small community. The disaster was depicted in verse by poet Charles Kingsley, then a resident of the village:
Three fishers went sailing out into the West,
Out into the West as the sun went down;
Each thought on the woman who lov'd him the best;
And the children stood watching them out of the town;
For men must work, and women must weep,
And there's little to earn, and many to keep,
Though the harbor bar be moaning.
Three wives sat up in the light-house tower,
And they trimm'd the lamps as the sun went down;
They look'd at the squall, and they look'd at the shower,
And the night rack came rolling up ragged and brown!
But men must work, and women must weep,
Though storms be sudden, and waters deep,
And the harbor bar be moaning.
Three corpses lay out on the shining sands
In the morning gleam as the tide went down,
And the women are weeping and wringing their hands
For those who will never come back to the town;
For men must work, and women must weep,
And the sooner it's over, the sooner to sleep-
And good-by to the bar and its moaning.
In response to the tragedy, John Rye and Charles Gee Jones took up a collection to benefit the survivors and their families. Though they began by going door to door collecting halfcrowns, they soon began selling annual subscriptions, with medals like this given to subscribers. The society was incorporated by an act of parliament in 1850 and still exists today.
From the J. Eric Engstrom Collection.
Like many coastal English communities, the people of the village of Clovelly relied on the sea for their livelihoods. On Sunday, 28 October 1838, twelve vessels sailed from Clovelly for the fishing grounds. En route, the fishermen were battered by a brutal storm, leaving only one surviving boat, decimating the small community. The disaster was depicted in verse by poet Charles Kingsley, then a resident of the village:
Three fishers went sailing out into the West,
Out into the West as the sun went down;
Each thought on the woman who lov'd him the best;
And the children stood watching them out of the town;
For men must work, and women must weep,
And there's little to earn, and many to keep,
Though the harbor bar be moaning.
Three wives sat up in the light-house tower,
And they trimm'd the lamps as the sun went down;
They look'd at the squall, and they look'd at the shower,
And the night rack came rolling up ragged and brown!
But men must work, and women must weep,
Though storms be sudden, and waters deep,
And the harbor bar be moaning.
Three corpses lay out on the shining sands
In the morning gleam as the tide went down,
And the women are weeping and wringing their hands
For those who will never come back to the town;
For men must work, and women must weep,
And the sooner it's over, the sooner to sleep-
And good-by to the bar and its moaning.
In response to the tragedy, John Rye and Charles Gee Jones took up a collection to benefit the survivors and their families. Though they began by going door to door collecting halfcrowns, they soon began selling annual subscriptions, with medals like this given to subscribers. The society was incorporated by an act of parliament in 1850 and still exists today.