albert medals.
on the 13th may 1905 at buckingham palace the king presented albert medals 1st class to william smith (mate) and arthur rea (2nd engineer) of the steam trawler "crane" of hull. and to charles beer(mate), harry smirk(chief engineer) and edwin costello (boatswain) of the steam trawler "gull" of hull, albert medals of the 2nd class. on the night of the 22nd oct 1904 the russian baltic fleet was on route to vladivostok to reinforce the pacific fleet against japanese threat (the japanese were expanding their empire in far east at cost to russian empire),came upon the hull trawler fleet and mistook them to be japanese motor torpedo boats and opened fire on them (and their own warships ,their crews were not well trained and nervous). the "crane" was so badly damaged she was sinking.william smith(mate) on finding the skipper had been killed took charge and signaled the"gull" for assistance,he was severely wounded himself whilst going to help the boatswain. after the chief engineer of the "crane" was rendered insensible 22 year old arthur rea 2nd engineer took charge of the boiler preventing it from blowing staying in engine room until taken off. charles beer (mate) harry smirk (chief engineer) and edwin costello(boatswain) of the steam trawler "gull" of hull took a boat to the "crane" and succeeded in getting the dead and wouded off before she sank. edwin costello was my grandfathers uncle who was born cahir in 1872. his sister johanna costello beqeathed his medal to hull museum in 1950. this information is a mixture of an article an aunt sent me years ago, and the wonders of the internet!
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Posted by sutton frizzell
on July 05 2020
