Tennants Auctioneers
Lot 42
A George IV Royal National Lifeboat Institution Silver Medal, the band mount inscribed, ''MR J.M. WILLIAMS, VOTED NOVR. 16 1843'', ring suspension James Moore Williams was born in Padstow in 1818/19 and joined the Customs as a boy in 1830 at the age of 12, serving on board the Revenue Cutter, ''Repulse'' which operated out of Poole and Portsmouth. He later transferred to the Revenue Cutter, ''Bee'' which by 1840 was operating out of Hull. James remained in the Customs, serving continuously in Hull until his retirement in 1883, by which time he had attained the rank of Examining Officer 2nd Class. Extract minutes of the Committee of Management dated 16.11.1843 record the following citation: ''The ANDROMACHE on passage Quebec to Humber drove ashore at Hull and capsized. Seven of the crew were in the forecastle and could not get out as the hatchways were under water and the ship on her beam ends with her tops in the water, consequently these poor fellows were obliged to cling on by their hammocks expecting any moment to be their last. This information having been communicated to the BEE Quarantine Cutter which was lying about 3/4 of a mile from the ANDROMACHE. Mr. J.M. Williams, mate of the Cutter immediately manned their boat, taking with him hatchets, axes and saws and a light, it being dark as pitch, and after half an hours search they found the ship and immediately commenced cutting through a hole, through which they got out six men alive and a poor boy who was drowned being asleep in his berth. The men said they could feel the water flowing fast on them, and that in half an hour more they must all have perished. Resolved that the silver medal be presented to Mr. Williams and that the award of three sovereigns be made to his boat's crew'' A photocopy of a family portrait of the recipient is also included with this lot.
