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Auction: 11010 - Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals & Militaria
Lot: 293

The Highly Emotive R.N.L.I. Silver Medal to Coxswain J. Jenkins, Mumbles Lifeboat, For the Attempted Rescue of the Crew of the Stricken Barque Admiral Prinz Adalbert; Advised Not To Put To Sea, Jenkins, With A Crew Of Twelve, Including Four Of His Sons, Proceeded to the Stricken Vessel; In Heavy Seas, the Lifeboat Capsized and Four of the Crew, Including Two of Jenkins´ Sons, Were Tragically Drowned; The Surviving Lifeboatmen Were Gallantly Saved by The Lighthouse Keeper´s Two Daughters, ´The Women Of Mumbles Head´ Royal National Lifeboat Institution Medal, silver, type 2 1862-1903, obverse: head of Queen Victoria with chaple of oak leaves facing left (Mr. Jenkin Jenkins. Voted 1st. Feby. 1883.), engraved in mixed styles, with uniface ´dolphin´ suspension, good very fine Estimate £ 600-800 Jenkin Jenkins, Coxswain, Mumbles Lifeboat, citation reads: ´27th January 1883: The barque Admiral Prinz Adalbert of Danzig went ashore in a storm on Mumbles Head after a tug failed to tow her off into Swansea Bay. The lifeboat Wolverhampton was launched at 10:00am with Coxswain Jenkins at the helm. In the 12 man crew were four of his sons, his son-in-law, and a nephew. On reaching the wreck, two of the crew had just been rescued when a large wave struck the lifeboat, capsizing her. John and William Jenkins, sons of the Coxswain, William MacNamara, his son-in-law, and crew member William Rogers were all drowned. The four deceased men left widows and nineteen orphans. Jenkin Jenkins, sustained a very serious scalp wound. Ultimately, with the exception of the Carpenter, the barque´s crew were saved.´ For this action Jenkin Jenkins was awarded the R.N.L.I. silver medal and a gratuity of £50. The Institution also gave £800 to the fund set up in aid of the deceased men´s widows and children, which ultimately raised £3,000. Wreck of the Admiral Prinz Adalbert On 27 January 1883 the German barque Admiral Prinz Adalbert (Captain Ludwig Leibaner), on her way from Danzig to Swansea with pit-props was struggling against a storm on the coast of the Gower Peninsular. She had already lost part of her rigging and her crew was near exhaustion. A pilot was requested to take her into Swansea but no pilot cutter was prepared to risk the storm to get to her. Finally the captain ordered the anchors to be dropped. One anchor failed to reach the seabed, the other held for a short while and then dragged, and the ship drifted towards the shore, eventually hitting the rocks near the Mumbles Lighthouse. In the collision the ship lost all three of its masts. Upon hearing of the disaster, the coxswain of the Mumbles Lifeboat, Jenkin Jenkins, although advised not to put to sea, decided to go to the assistance of the barque, and with great difficulty the lifeboat was launched and proceeded to the stricken vessel. Although the lifeboat crew could not get close enough to throw a line to the ship, someone on board the barque had the presence of mind to throw down a lifebelt with a line attached and a line was eventually secured, the lifeboat put down her anchor, and the first two of the ship´s crew of 15 managed to get to the lifeboat. As the third crewman was being pulled aboard the lifeboat was suddenly hit by a huge wave and overturned, throwing the crew into the sea. The boat righted itself and the crew managed to get back aboard, only for the boat to be flung over some submerged rocks. The crew of the lifeboat now tried to swim to the shore, but four were drowned plus the barque´s carpenter who had been taken off by the lifeboat. The survivors were all severely injured by the time they got to the shore, and the coxswain´s son George Jenkins had both his legs crushed. Two lifeboatmen were seen clinging to the wrecked lifeboat. At this time two sisters, Jessie and Margaret Ace, who had been with their father, Abraham Ace, in the Mumbles lighthouse, came down to the shore to see if they could help, and waded out into the heavy sea up to their shoulders to try to get to the surviving lifeboatmen. Although they could not quite reach Jessie Ace knotted their shawls together and they used the shawls as a lifeline to pull two men to relative safety, where they were looked after by the people of Mumbles. Although they received no formal recognition from the R.N.L.I., the Ace sisters did receive great acclaim in the national press and postcards were sold with their pictures on them- even Queen Victoria had copies of these cards. The Empress of Germany gave them two silver brooches, and the poem "The Women of Mumbles Head" was written by Clement Scott to commemorate their brave actions. The Women of Mumbles Head Up at a lighthouse window two women beheld the storm, And saw in the boiling breakers a figure- a fighting form. It might be a grey-haired father, then the women held their breath, It might be a fair-haired brother, who was having a round with death. It might be a lover, a husband, whose kisses were on the lips Of the women whose love is the life of men going down to the sea in ships, They had seen the launch of the lifeboat, they had seen the worst and more, Then, kissing each other, these women went down, From the lighthouse straight to the shore. There by the rocks on the breakers these sisters, hand in hand, Beheld once more that desperate man who struggled to reach the land. ´Twas only aid he wanted to help him across the wave, What are a couple of women? well more than three craven men Who stood by the shore with chattering teeth, refusing to stir- and then Off went the women´s shawls, sir, in a second they´re torn and rent, Then knotting them into a rope of love, straight into the sea they went. ´Come back´, cried the lighthouse-keeper, ´for God´s sake, girls, come back´. As they caught the waves on their foreheads, resisting the fierce attack. ´Come back´, moaned the grey-haired mother, as she stood by the angry sea ´If the waves take you, my darlings, there´s nobody left to me´. ´Come back´, said the three strong soldiers, who still stood faint and pale, ´You will drown if you face the breakers, you will fall if you brave the gale´. ´Come back´, said the girls, ´we will not, go tell it to all the town, ´We´ll lose our lives, God willing, before that man shall drown´. ´Give one more knot to the shawls, Bess, give one strong clutch of your hand, Just follow me, brave, to the shingle, and we´ll bring him safe to land. Wait for the next wave, darling, only a minute more, And I´ll have him safe in my arms, dear, and we´ll drag him safe to shore´. Up to the arms in the water, fighting it breast to breast They caught and saved a brother alive, God bless us, you know the rest- Well, many a heart beat stronger, and many a tear was shed, And many a glass was tossed right off to "The Women of Mumbles Head".

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£2,700