AWARDS FOR GALLANTRY

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 58, 9 March 1923, Page 7

AWARDS FOR GALLANTRY

OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT.

(PROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

• LONDON, 26th January " On the recommendation of the Board of Trade, the King has granted the award- of the gold medal for foreign service to J. F. Kearney, captain 'of the ban I'rancisco Fire Department fireboat Dennis 1.. Sullivan; the silver medal for gallantry in saving life at sea of Donald a* 'Donald, chief officer, and the bronze medal to George Archibald, James Joseph Lyon, John Foster Harold JNorns, and Lawrence Fauchelle, seamen of the s.s. Tahiti. In the case of Lawrence Fauchelle, the award will be posthumous, as he lost his life in endeavouring to sa-ve a comrade. On 28th February, 1922, the Tahiti was sealed about 10.50 a.m. by the United- States Government Health officials at San Francisco for fumip-ation with hydrocyanic acid gas. At 1.30 p.m. the fumigation having been completed, the seals were broken, and at 4.45 p.m. the steamer was considered free from gas, and given clearance. John Newton, ship's carpenter, arrived on board about 5.10 p.m., and was instructed by the chief officer to thaw out No. 1 lower hold by means of steam, and see to the drain cocks of the chain locker. At 5.30 p.m. groans were heard in No. 1 hold. Newton, who uad evidently tried to regain the deck, fell off the ladder on to his head, which caused it to bleed profusely. Chief Officer D. M'Donald immediately went down to Newton's assistance, but feeling himself overcome, reclimbed the ladder, and managed to regain the deck. Seaman George Archibald then went down, but was at once overcome by the fumes, as also was Lawrence Fauchelle, who followed. Lyon and Norris also went down, followed in a second attempt by the chief officer, ■whose efforts were again unsuccessful, and he had to be hauled up on deck in a state of collapse. Lyon and Norriß also managed to regain the deck, where they, too, collapsed. On the arrival of the San Francisco Fire Department fireboat Dennis T. Sullivan, Newton, Archibald, and Fauchelle were still lying unconscious down in the

hold, and Captain Kearney, of the fireboat, put on a Gibbs gas mask, and went down to their assistance. He managed to put slings around each man, but bad to come up en deck for fresh air after each operation, as the mask was defective. Considerable risk was incurred in this case owing to the deadly nature of the gas used for fumigating purposes.