The 14k yellow gold Carpathia medal was presented to Ernest GF Brown in recognition of his ‘outstanding contribution’ to the survivors. It is estimated at £18,000-25,000 in an Antiques & Collectors sale on August 1.
Only 14 medals in gold were awarded by the Titanic Survivors Committee to the captain and senior officers of the Carpathia. A further 110 silver medals and 180 bronze medals were awarded to the junior officers and crew.
The medals were privately commissioned by the committee whose chair was Titanic survivor Margaret Brown, the American first-class passenger who became known as ‘The Unsinkable Molly Brown’. They were made by the New York jeweller Dieges & Clust and this example retains the original box in which it was issued.
The medals were presented to the Carpathia’s crew after the ship arrived back in New York from Naples on May 29, 1912.
Examples of the bronze and silver medals appear at auction from time to time, with two appearing at a Charles Miller sale in 2012 – a bronze version making £4000 and a silver example fetched just under £8000. However, the emergence of a gold medal such as this at Bourne End is a significantly rarer occurrence.
Rescue operation
The Carpathia was a Cunard Line transatlantic passenger steamship that was sailing from New York to Croatia when it received the distress signal from the Titanic. Just after midnight on the morning of April 15, 1912, the ship turned around and arrived at the Titanic’s last-known coordinates around two hours and 40 minutes after the latter had hit an iceberg.
It took over four hours to rescue the 711 survivors from the stricken vessel’s 20 lifeboats, using ladders, rigging and the ship’s forward cranes to make slings to haul up children and the infirm.
A photo of the Carpathia docked in New York City in 1912 following the rescue of the survivors of the Titanic. Image: APA via Commons Wikimedia.
Ernest Brown was the 27-year-old Liverpool-born purser who handled the stewarding and accounts on board the Carpathia, having joined the ship’s crew only two months before the Titanic disaster. As the ship sped to the Titanic’s last recorded position, Brown was ordered to clear the alleyways of the ship to prevent any obstructions to the smooth running of the rescue operation.
As the Carpathia began taking survivors on board, Brown was charged with interviewing each survivor, compiling lists of passengers names, reuniting family members and relations, informing and comforting those whose relations had not survived, and assessing any medical needs.
As well as the medal from the Titanic Survivors Committee, Brown was awarded 50 guineas from the owners of the Titanic, the White Star Line.
