BRAVEST DEED OF 1910

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 8079, 6 April 1912, Page 1

BRAVEST DEED OF 1910

ATTEMPTED RESCUE IN SHARK-IN-FESTED WATERS. At the annual Court of tho Royal Humane Society early in the year. SubLieutenant Charles C. Hallnlav, .Royal Naval Reserve, was voted the Stanhope gold medal. This liononi* is awai'ded annually hv the society to the person who is judged to have perfonned the bravest deed of life-saving during the vear. Tho act which won the distinction for Lieutenant Halliday was the followAt 9.-10 a.in. on November 29th, 1910, while the Glasgow steamer River Clyde was in the Red Sea, going full-speed on her homeward voyage, a Chinese fireman threw himself overboard from the foredeck, with the intention of committing suicide. Mr Halliday, wlm was then the second officer of the ship, at once sprang after him, hut as tho man .never rose to the surface, ho was unable to effect the rescue. The steamer was stopped, and a boat got away, which picked Mr Halliday up after he had been twenty minutes in tho water. The attempted rescue involved not only great risk of drowning, but also of being cut to pieces by the propeller, or of being devoured by tho sharks which infest the waters of the Red Sea in great numbers. When the incident was reported to tho Royal Humane Society Mr Halliday was awarded the silver medal. Ho has now been chosen from among tho five to whom silver medals were given as being the most worthy to receive the Stanhope gold medal. Admiral Sir Digby Morant, on whose motion the award was made, said the merits of the other four silver medallists were carefully considered, hut the com mittee of the society regarded Mr Halli day’s act as the one which involved the greatest risk. Lieutenant Halliday is now an officer in the service of the Cunard Steamship Company.