AFTER MANY YEARS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20131, 17 December 1928, Page 13

AFTER MANY YEARS.

VICTORIA CROSS ROMANCE.

SAMUEL MITCHELL'S HEROISM.

STORMING OF THE GATE PA.

An heroic deed of the early days in New Zealand is recalled by the recent recovery by his family in New Zealand of the Victoria Cross awarded to the late Samuel Mitchell for gallantry at the storming of the Gate Pa in 1864. Awarded 64 years ago, and lost for the greater part of that time, the Victoria Cross won by Samuel Mitchell, captain of the foretop of H.M.S. Harrier, at the storming of the Gate Pa, near Tauranga, on April 29, 1864, has been restored to the members of the heroic seaman's family, who are still resident in New Zealand.

The storming party made an entrance to the pa at four o'clock in the afternoon, Commander Hay, of the Harrier, leading the seamen and marines, and Lieut.-Colonel H. G. Booth, 150 of the 43rd Regiment. Inside the fort, however, the sailors and soldiers were confused by the intricate character of the works with their crooked trenches and rpofedover pits. In the midst of the panic and disorder Samuel Mitchell noticed Commander Hay, also of the Harrier, who had been wounded at the first discharge, lying helpless on the ground and went to his assistance. Commander Hay urged him not to endanger his own life by staying, but Mitchell raised the wounded man, lifted him over a six-foot parapet and carried him from the pa amid a shower of bullets.

Although Hay died some hours afterwards, he recommended Mitchell for the Victoria Cross, and it was later presented to him in Sydney by Sir William Young, then Governor of New South Wales. It was at Sydney, too, that Mitchell obtained his discharge from the Harrier, and disregarding the advice of Admiral Sir Francis Sullivan, who recognised Mitchell's knowledge of navigation and wished him to take a merchant ship, he succumbed to the lure of the New Zealand goldfields and came to the west coast.

It was at this time that Mr. Mitchell lost the decoration he had so well earned "for valour." He left his sea chest containing the Victoria Cross and other valuables at the boarding house where he had been staying in Sydney, and when he wrote asking that it be forwarded to New Zealand he learned that the proprietors had moved and no trace of them or of the Cross could be found, until 15 or 16 years ago, when the New Zealand Herald's London letter mentioned that the Cross had been sold at Glendinning's in London.

Mr. Mitchell himself had been drowned at Westland in 1894 at the age of 52, but members of his family, which numbered eleven, immediately revived inquiries, and learned that the buyer was Colonel Gascoigne, of Abbotsford, Hull. The colonel, however, when written to, refused to part with the medal unless it could be replaced with a similar naval cross, which, of course, would be extremely difficult to procure. Miss E. A. Mitchell, of the Plunket Society in Wellington, stated last week that every effort had been made to get the Cross restored to her family, but without success. Finally Miss Mitchell's sister wrote to the Duke of York asking for his assistance in the matter. The Duke wrote to Colonel Gascoigne, who' then agreed to sell the Cross, and when the Mitchell family sent Home the money the long-lost Cross was returned. It arrived in New Zealand about two months ago.