1023
Presentation Box Presented to the Chief Mate of SS
1/9
Description
Presentation Box Presented to the Chief Mate of SS Asian for his Efforts in Rescuing Survivors of the SS Volturno in the North Atlantic 1913, fine quality mahogany box with engraved gilt presentation plaque to the top which reads “Presented by the British Government to Arthur Hall Chief Mate of the steamship Asian of Liverpool in acknowledgement of his humanity and kindness to the shipwrecked crew and passengers of the steamship Volturno of London which was burnt in the North Atlantic Ocean on the 9th October 1913”. Lined to the interior in blue velvet with padding to the lid. Gilt tooled leather makers piece to the interior lid of Thoughton and Simms. Complete with the locking key. Accompanying the box is a newspaper cutting regarding his death and 1901 dated certificate of competenry as master of foreign-going ship by the Board of Trade. The newspaper cutting gives details of Arthur Hall, he resided in Canterbury and worked for many years with the Leyland Steamship Company. At the age of 17 Arthur Hall was apprenticed with the firm Crawford and Rowatt of Glasgow. In the last year of his apprenticeship he narrowly escaped with his life when the ship he was serving on, “Port Gordon”, when it was sunk off of Cape Flattery. For the next five years he settled in the United States of America working on various barges etc before returning to England. It was in 1904 that he joined the Leyland Steamship Company. He experienced being shipwrecked for a 2nd time when he was serving on the Leyland Line Antillian when she went ashore at Turks Island in 1912. Interestingly Leyland Line Antillian was in the vicinity of the White Star Line ship The Titanic when she was sunk on 14th / 15th April 1912. The newspaper cutting goes on to describe an act of bravery in which he was presented with a French gallantry medal, “On the 23rd November 1909 when the Meltonian of Liverpool, belonging to Messrs F Leyland and Coy, was proceeding on her voyage from Liverpool to the West Indies she fell in with the French brigantine Marie Emilie Andrea of La Rochelle, when three days on her voyage and about 700 miles west of the Lizard. The latter immediately hoisted signals indicating that she was short of water, provisions and Oil. The Meltonian at once lowered a boat which was sent away in charge of the second officer, Mr Arthur Hall, who accomplished the task successfully, and transferred the provisions from the boat to the brigantine under adverse circumstances caused by the sea and heavy swell”. The newspaper article goes onto describe his actions during the incident with the SS Volturno, “The disaster to the oil tank steamer Volturno which caught fire in mid-ocean will be readily remembered. Mr Hall, then chief officer of the Asian, was in charge of an open boat which went to the assistance of the crew on the burning steamer. He was instrumental in saving several lives and was one of the last to leave the doomed Volturno. For this epic act of gallantry he was awarded the Board of Trades silver medal for saving life at sea, and had the honour of personally receiving the medal from the hands of King George at Buckingham Palace”. It goes on to mention a brief history of his service during the Great War including being involved on the ships that landed the troops on the Gallipoli peninsular and later evacuation from Sulva Bay. At about 06:00 on 9 October 1913, Volturno, on a voyage from Rotterdam to New York City, was carrying a mixed load of passengers and cargo that included highly flammable chemicals. It caught fire in the middle of a gale in the North Atlantic. The cargo hold in the front of the ship was found to be fully engulfed in flames. Shortly afterwards part of the cargo exploded. Later the fire spread to the ship's coal bunkers, cutting off the fuel supply for the fire hose pumps. The crew attempted to fight the fire for about two hours, but, realizing the severity of the fire and the limited options for dousing it on the high seas, Captain Francis Inch had his wireless operator send out SOS signals. Eleven ships responded to the calls and headed to Volturno's reported position, arriving throughout the day and into the next. In the meantime, several of Volturno's lifeboats with women and children aboard were launched with tragic results; all the boats either capsized or were smashed by the hull of the heaving ship, leaving no one alive from these first boats. Captain James Clayton Barr of Carmania, the first ship to arrive, took command of the rescue effort. Barr had the other nine vessels form a "battle line" of sorts and slowly circle the burning ship. Throughout the night of 10/11 October, Carmania kept one of her searchlights on Volturno, with another sweeping the ring of rescue ships to help them avoid collisions. In the high seas, the rescue ships had launched lifeboats of their own to try and take passengers off the stricken Volturno, but the poor weather, high seas, and the reluctance of Volturno's passengers to jump into the frigid waters hampered rescue efforts. On board Volturno, the crew and some of the male passengers, unable to extinguish the fire, were at least able to keep it from spreading to the aft cargo holds, over which the others on board were gathered. But, shortly before dawn, a large explosion, probably of her boilers, rocked Volturno. At this point, the rescuers felt that the ship, which had not been in imminent danger of sinking up to this point, might founder at any time. In the early morning of 11 October, the tanker SS Narragansett, one of the eleven rescue vessels, turned on her pumps and sprayed lubricating oil on the sea to help calm the surface. The combination of the oil and the lessening of the storm allowed many more lifeboats to be sent to Volturno's aid. With all boats recovered by 09:00, the rescue ships all resumed their original courses. In all, 521 passengers and crew members were rescued by ten of the eleven ships. The death toll was 136, mostly women and children from the early lifeboat launchings. On the night of 17 October, the Dutch tanker Charlois, unaware of the events of the week before, came upon the still smouldering hull of Volturno. Charlois lowered a boat that stood by, attempting to hail any possible survivors on board. When day broke on 18 October, Captain Schmidt saw the full extent of the damage, and realizing that Volturno was a hazard to passing ships, ordered Volturno's seacocks opened; the ship then slowly sank. Worthy of further research.
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Presentation Box Presented to the Chief Mate of SS Asian for his Efforts in Rescuing Survivors of the SS Volturno in the North Atlantic 1913, fine quality mahogany box with engraved gilt presentation plaque to the top which reads “Presented by the British Government to Arthur Hall Chief Mate of the steamship Asian of Liverpool in acknowledgement of his humanity and kindness to the shipwrecked crew and passengers of the steamship Volturno of London which was burnt in the North Atlantic Ocean on the 9th October 1913”. Lined to the interior in blue velvet with padding to the lid. Gilt tooled leather makers piece to the interior lid of Thoughton and Simms. Complete with the locking key. Accompanying the box is a newspaper cutting regarding his death and 1901 dated certificate of competenry as master of foreign-going ship by the Board of Trade. The newspaper cutting gives details of Arthur Hall, he resided in Canterbury and worked for many years with the Leyland Steamship Company. At the age of 17 Arthur Hall was apprenticed with the firm Crawford and Rowatt of Glasgow. In the last year of his apprenticeship he narrowly escaped with his life when the ship he was serving on, “Port Gordon”, when it was sunk off of Cape Flattery. For the next five years he settled in the United States of America working on various barges etc before returning to England. It was in 1904 that he joined the Leyland Steamship Company. He experienced being shipwrecked for a 2nd time when he was serving on the Leyland Line Antillian when she went ashore at Turks Island in 1912. Interestingly Leyland Line Antillian was in the vicinity of the White Star Line ship The Titanic when she was sunk on 14th / 15th April 1912. The newspaper cutting goes on to describe an act of bravery in which he was presented with a French gallantry medal, “On the 23rd November 1909 when the Meltonian of Liverpool, belonging to Messrs F Leyland and Coy, was proceeding on her voyage from Liverpool to the West Indies she fell in with the French brigantine Marie Emilie Andrea of La Rochelle, when three days on her voyage and about 700 miles west of the Lizard. The latter immediately hoisted signals indicating that she was short of water, provisions and Oil. The Meltonian at once lowered a boat which was sent away in charge of the second officer, Mr Arthur Hall, who accomplished the task successfully, and transferred the provisions from the boat to the brigantine under adverse circumstances caused by the sea and heavy swell”. The newspaper article goes onto describe his actions during the incident with the SS Volturno, “The disaster to the oil tank steamer Volturno which caught fire in mid-ocean will be readily remembered. Mr Hall, then chief officer of the Asian, was in charge of an open boat which went to the assistance of the crew on the burning steamer. He was instrumental in saving several lives and was one of the last to leave the doomed Volturno. For this epic act of gallantry he was awarded the Board of Trades silver medal for saving life at sea, and had the honour of personally receiving the medal from the hands of King George at Buckingham Palace”. It goes on to mention a brief history of his service during the Great War including being involved on the ships that landed the troops on the Gallipoli peninsular and later evacuation from Sulva Bay. At about 06:00 on 9 October 1913, Volturno, on a voyage from Rotterdam to New York City, was carrying a mixed load of passengers and cargo that included highly flammable chemicals. It caught fire in the middle of a gale in the North Atlantic. The cargo hold in the front of the ship was found to be fully engulfed in flames. Shortly afterwards part of the cargo exploded. Later the fire spread to the ship's coal bunkers, cutting off the fuel supply for the fire hose pumps. The crew attempted to fight the fire for about two hours, but, realizing the severity of the fire and the limited options for dousing it on the high seas, Captain Francis Inch had his wireless operator send out SOS signals. Eleven ships responded to the calls and headed to Volturno's reported position, arriving throughout the day and into the next. In the meantime, several of Volturno's lifeboats with women and children aboard were launched with tragic results; all the boats either capsized or were smashed by the hull of the heaving ship, leaving no one alive from these first boats. Captain James Clayton Barr of Carmania, the first ship to arrive, took command of the rescue effort. Barr had the other nine vessels form a "battle line" of sorts and slowly circle the burning ship. Throughout the night of 10/11 October, Carmania kept one of her searchlights on Volturno, with another sweeping the ring of rescue ships to help them avoid collisions. In the high seas, the rescue ships had launched lifeboats of their own to try and take passengers off the stricken Volturno, but the poor weather, high seas, and the reluctance of Volturno's passengers to jump into the frigid waters hampered rescue efforts. On board Volturno, the crew and some of the male passengers, unable to extinguish the fire, were at least able to keep it from spreading to the aft cargo holds, over which the others on board were gathered. But, shortly before dawn, a large explosion, probably of her boilers, rocked Volturno. At this point, the rescuers felt that the ship, which had not been in imminent danger of sinking up to this point, might founder at any time. In the early morning of 11 October, the tanker SS Narragansett, one of the eleven rescue vessels, turned on her pumps and sprayed lubricating oil on the sea to help calm the surface. The combination of the oil and the lessening of the storm allowed many more lifeboats to be sent to Volturno's aid. With all boats recovered by 09:00, the rescue ships all resumed their original courses. In all, 521 passengers and crew members were rescued by ten of the eleven ships. The death toll was 136, mostly women and children from the early lifeboat launchings. On the night of 17 October, the Dutch tanker Charlois, unaware of the events of the week before, came upon the still smouldering hull of Volturno. Charlois lowered a boat that stood by, attempting to hail any possible survivors on board. When day broke on 18 October, Captain Schmidt saw the full extent of the damage, and realizing that Volturno was a hazard to passing ships, ordered Volturno's seacocks opened; the ship then slowly sank. Worthy of further research.
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