LLOYD'S AND VON LUCKNER.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 78, 1 April 1922, Page 13

LLOYD'S AND YON LUCKNER.

THE "M__H_TOIUOU_ SERVICES" MEDAL. I BRAVE DEEDS AT SEA. (From a Correspondent.) Apart from those directly concerned with mercantile seafaring few, probably, realise how high an honour it is to be the recipient of Lloyd's'medal for "Meritorious Services," which award has recently been made in connection with the capture of Count yon Luckner and ouiers of the crew of the German searaider Seeadlei*. A controversy has, I know, arisen as to whom the honour for this capture by right belongs; but that need not debar mc from giving a few details in regard to the history of this much-coveted award, or from citing a few of the instances of dire peril afloat in "which some men—in one instance a woman —have acted with such bravery and resourcefulness as to merit the awarding of this medal.

As I write I have before mc an official list of the names of those to 7 whom, during the past 29 years, this particular medal has been awarded by the Committee of Lloyd's. In the past it is safe to say that no one has ever received this medal except it has been earned by bravery, by initiative and resource, or by stubborn devotion to duty. By many ranks of tho merchant service has the medal been won, and numerous nationalities are included in the list of those entitled to wear it.

It was in 1593 that the Committee of Lloyd's decided to bestow a medal upon ships' officers and others, "'who, by extraordinary exertions, have contributed to the preservation of vessels and cargoes from perils of all kinds." This medal, which is quite distinct from Lloyd's medal for saving life at sea, originally took the form of a bronze star, with blue and red ribbon, but in July, 1900, it was changed to a silver oval, with, blue and silver ribbon. Finally in April, 1913, the medal was again changed, this time to a circular shape, and thereafter was struck in both silver and bronze. Since 1893, about 330 awards of the medal (or bar thereto) have been made; whilst 17 of the bronze medals (authorised in 1913) have been presented. AN EARLY COMMAND. The strange case of the big British sailing ship, Trafalgar, in the early nineties, supplied the story of fortitude and strength of character for which on February 7, 1894, one of the earliest presentations of the medal was made. The hero in this instance was William Shotton, a senior apprentice, serving as third mate of the ship. Bound down to an Australian port from the East Indies, fever broke out on board. I cannot recall whether "the captain or some of his officers died, but at any rate a-11 those above Shotton in were laid aside, and upon the third mate fell the full responsibility of bringing the 6hip safely to port—-no light task for a young man of his experience. The crew, seeing the position of affairs, became unruly and truculent, and demanded that the ship be taken into the nearest port. In no way. daunted by, the attitude of his ruffianly crew, Shotton took command, and safely, ravig'ated the Trafalgar tci'her" proper'loading port, thus saving owners and underwriters much expense. One would hardly expect a ship's steward to take an active part in bringing a big "windjammer" safely into nort, but in this case of the Trafalgar it was John Lee, the vessel's steward, who< gave "splendid aid to young Shotton in his difficult task. Fully aporcciatin- tho part I.«*e had played, the Committee of Lloyd's also awarded him the meritorious services medal. I well remember the enthusiasm which preva.iled in the underwriting room at Lloyd's when youne Shotton, safely back in England, was received by underwriters. A DEATH SHIP. Only one woman has received this particular medal for actual services rendered. This was Mrs. Reed, wife of the captain of the American sailing ship T. F. Oakes, and if ever a woman drank deeply of the horrors of disease' and death at sea it was she. The medal was awarded her on November 3,1897. That is nearly a quarter'of a century ago, but the story of the ill-starred T- F. Oakes, and how she took 270 days or more (1 write from memory) in ber voyage from the Far East to New' York, arriving with nearly all her crew 'dead from scurvy," remains pretty firmly fixed in my recollection. A big wooden Ameri-can-built ship, she met with a long succession of adverse winds and calms in the earlier months of the voyage. After rounding Gape Horn scurvy, made its appeaxance, and the ship's cook was the one first to succumb. By. reason of he? long-drawn-out passage "under writers Becan>j gravely concerned about the fate of the ship. When off the River Plate she did apparently "speak" another American ship, but for some reason or other the skipper of the latter vessel Aid not take the trouble to send this speaking report to Lloyd's. With no news of the T. F. Oakes, hope for'her safety had almost vanished. Slowly, the long-overdue "wind-jammer" sagged her way through the tropics and northward for home. But the fell disease of scurvy had a firm hold on her luckless crew. One by one they "sickened, died and were" passed over the rail. Death claimed a full harvest on that ship. By the time the T. F. Oakes was well up the North Atlantic hardly anyone was left gufli- [ ciently well to get about the deck. But the skipper's wife, Mrs. Reed, had managed to keep going, and regularly she had to stand her trick at the wheel, j This she was obliged to do Tight up to the time that the T. F. Oakes was sighted and taken in tow by a passing oil-taiaker. " And so ended what indeed had proved a veritable voyage of death. Yes, MrsJ Reed earned her medal from Lloyd's. ESCAPING A FIERY FATE. Steering his ship with his arms and elbows, his hands too badly burnt to hold the wheel spokes, Captain Edward W. Freeman safeiy brought his steamer, the old "tramp" Roddam, out of a French West Indian port when Mount Pelee was in volcanic eruption. For some few days before there had'heefi a fear that the volcano might burst oiit, and when this did happen the seaport lying below was wiped out. Seeing the peril, Captain Freeman sliped his moorings and headed for sea. His crew lay i about tiie deck, badly burntby. the falling ashes and scoria, and'he himself then took the wheel. Despite' his burns he maintained his position at the wheel and got the ship safely away, and for his meritorious services he was awarded, on June il, 1902, Lloyd's medal. There is a suggestion of irony in the fact that the?old Roddam, after her baptism of volcanic fire, should' end her days "in a desolate region of ice and snow. Yet that proved to be her fate, for years afterwards, she was totally wrecked, : s_ip an<T cargo, on the° dreary frozen

coast of Nortberp Siberia, in the course of a summer voyage to one of the big Siberian rivers. ' Gaptain Freeman, after his escape from a fiery death, was for a while in the Union-iCastle Line service. Then he became one of the examiners of masters and mates in London, in which capacity doubtless many ships' officers visiting New Zealand must have met him. DIVING IN MID-OCEAN. To go diving in a home-made canvas bag is a sort of sport not everyone would take to. But it was for doing this —or rather for devising and using such a diving gear —that Captain iver Mattson, of ' the Norwegian barque Flora, received bis medal irom Lloyd's on May 25, 1904. A wooden vessel, the Flora sprang a leak at sea. It was impossible to get at the leak from the inside of the ship, and, in Captain Mattson's opinion, it was equally impossible that his ship should be allowed to sink. Having cudgelled his brains, ho found a way out of the difficulty. From sail canvas he constructed a cylindrical watertight tube, closed at the bottom, and having at a certain depth down a pair of canvas arms, which would close round a man's wrists and prevent the inflow of water. Captain Mattson entered this tube, which was then drawn by ropes under the ship's bottom. The upper and open end of the tube was level with the ship's deck, and up it he could speak to his men when he himself was down under the ship. He caused the tube to be drawn over where the leak was, and taking tools down with him he was able to stop the inrush of water, and so his ship came safely to port. Some while after a demonstration with a similar canvas diving tube was given in London on board the fourmasted "barque Lauriston. THE YEARS OF WAR. The foregoing instances of sea perils overcome for which Lloyd's have awarded their meritorious services medal," are cited merely to indicate some few of the varied actions that thus have been rewarded. Since the outbreak of war in 1914 the number of awards made has been much greater in proportion" than during the years preceding This, of course, is mostly due to the fact that the carrying-on by the merchant service during the years of war frequently called for the putting forth' of strenuous efforts to escape from perils due essentially to the menace from German sea activities. In four instances there is a pathetic note struck when'the record states -that the medal was awarded to the widow of some gallant seafarer, who had been killed or •had died before Lloyd's could make the award his conduct had merited.

In regard to the latest award of this medal, that is to say, the iward to the "officer in the Fiji Constabulary, it is to be noted that "it was in connection with no special ship or cargo that was in danger. Rather was it in relation to the capture of enemies who, had they been allowed to escanp, might still have played havoc with allied tonnage in the Pacific. It is apparently the only instance in which thin medaV has been awarded for a service not directly "in connection with some particular ship in peril.