Part 99 (1/2)
[_Saving Life from the Perils of the Sea._]
LIFE SAVING MEDAL OF THE FIRST CLa.s.s UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Three men in a boat in a heavy sea. One is rescuing a person who has hold of a spar, at the end of which is a block with its sheet. Another is standing, casting a rope, and a third is seated and rowing. In the distance, to the left, is the wreck of a large vessel. PAQUET. F.
(_fecit_).
IN TESTIMONY OF HEROIC DEEDS IN SAVING LIFE FROM THE PERILS OF THE SEA. A female figure, standing, holds in her left hand a wreath of oak, and with her right is preparing to inscribe the name of the recipient on a monument which is surmounted by the American eagle, and to the right of which are a mast, a yard with its sail bent, an anchor, a s.e.xtant, and a branch of laurel. Exergue: ACT OF CONGRESS JUNE 20th 1874. PAQUET.
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ORIGINAL DOc.u.mENTS. (p. 442)
_Act of Congress Inst.i.tuting Life Saving Medals._
_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress a.s.sembled_: That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby directed to cause to be prepared medals of honor, with suitable devices, to be distinguished as Life-Saving Medals of the first and second cla.s.s, which shall be bestowed upon any persons who shall hereafter endanger their own lives in saving, or endeavoring to save lives from perils of the sea, within the United States, or upon any American vessel: _Provided_, That the medal of the first cla.s.s shall be confined to cases of extreme and heroic daring, and that the medal of the second cla.s.s shall be given in cases not sufficiently distinguished to deserve the medal of the first cla.s.s: _Provided also_, That no award of either medal shall be made to any person until sufficient evidence of his deserving shall have been filed with the Secretary of the Treasury and entered upon the records of the Department.
Approved June 20, 1874.
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_Lucien M. Clemons, A. J. Clemons, and Hubbard M. Clemons, of Marblehead, Ohio, for rescuing two men from wreck of Schooner ”Consuello,” in Lake Erie, May 1, 1875. Awarded June 19th, 1876._
Treasury Department, Office of the Secretary, Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C., June 30th, 1876.
To Lucien M. CLEMONS, Esq.,[130]
Marblehead, Ohio.
[Footnote 130: Similar letters were written to A.
J. Clemons and Hubbard M. Clemons.]
Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a life-saving medal of the first-cla.s.s, which has been awarded to you under authority of the provisions of the seventh section of the Act of Congress, approved June 20, 1874, for the extreme and heroic daring manifested by you in the rescue, under circ.u.mstances of peculiar peril and difficulty, of two men from the wreck of the schooner ”Consuello,” near Marblehead, Ohio, on the 1st of May, 1875.
In sending you this medal it is remarked that it and the two others respectively awarded to your a.s.sociates in the hazardous undertaking referred to, are the first that have been issued under the provisions of the act above named, and the Department is gratified that the law should commence its operations by honoring and commemorating an action of such distinguished gallantry.
I have the honor to be, Sir, your obedient servant, Charles F. CONANT, _Acting Secretary_.
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_Hugh Beard, James Conley, William Gregory, Charles Danslow, (p. 443) John Dolman, George Lee, Philip Murphy, James Munday, James Martin, William Ruffler, Samuel Richards, and William Stewart, members of the crew of the Mersey Docks and Harbor Board; and E. Crabtree, Charles Eddington, William Griffith, James G.o.dfrey, W. Jones, John Dean, James Duncan, James Harvey, Robert Lucas, Thomas Maloney, Charles McKenzie, John Powell, John Robinson, R. J. Thomas, and Henry Williams, members of the crew of the ”Royal National Life-Boat Inst.i.tution,” at New Brighton, England, for rescuing persons at the wreck of the American s.h.i.+p ”Ellen Southard” September 27, 1875, at the mouth of River Mersey, Liverpool, England. Awarded February 27, 1877._
Treasury Department, Office of The Secretary, Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C. March 3d, 1877.
To Mr. James MARTIN,[131]
Master of the Mersey Docks and Harbor Board Life Boat, Liverpool, England.
[Footnote 131: Similar letters were sent to Hugh Beard, James Conley, William Gregory, Charles Danslow, John Dolman, George Lee, Philip Murphy, James Munday, William Ruffler, Samuel Richards, and William Stewart.]
Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a life-saving medal of the first cla.s.s, which has been awarded to you, under the authority of the provisions of the seventh section of the Act of the Congress of the United States, approved June 20, 1874, for the extreme and heroic daring manifested by you in the rescue, under circ.u.mstances of peculiar danger and difficulty, of seventeen persons from the wreck of the American s.h.i.+p ”Ellen Southard,” on the 27th of September, 1875, at the mouth of the river Mersey, near Liverpool.
It is the first time this nation has had an opportunity to offer to other than its own citizens the medal of the life-saving service, and it is a matter of congratulation that the occasion is more than worthy of the token. No words, it is felt, can do justice to the conduct of the men of the Liverpool life-boat upon the scene of the wreck of the ”Ellen Southard,” and the fatal disaster which followed the rescue, whereby nine persons belonging to the s.h.i.+p and three of your gallant comrades perished, while it saddens the glory of the deliverance, yet throws into bolder relief the n.o.ble courage of the life-boat crew by disclosing the dreadful hazards they dared to encounter. Upon you, as upon each of the survivors, it is my privilege to bestow, in behalf of the United States, this medal, provided by law in grateful recognition of such deeds, and I beg you will accept it with this expression of the appreciation of the gallant conduct it commemorates.
I have the honor to be, Sir, your obedient servant, Charles F. CONANT, _Acting Secretary of the Treasury_.