Bonjour,

Please excuse my lack of French on this forum, but have registered in hope that someone on your forum may be able to help me.

I have what I now know to be a 'la médaille de la marine marchande pour courage et dévouement' which was awarded to a relative in 1927. He was an Englishman called Henry Morton. I am trying to find out why he was awarded this medal and what he did to win it. He may have been in the British Merchant Navy by 1927 as a seaman by occupation.

Perhaps he won this saving a French sailor ? Henry later went on to serve in WW2 in the British Merchant Navy sailing on the Atlantic and Pacific seas.

Is there any medal register or association contact I can make to find out ?

Many thanks for your help,

Alan

Good evening,
Can you take a picture front - side of the coin.
Cordially.
bivouac59

Hello alan

You are right to think that there are records of French official life-saving medals : in those days they were published in the Journal Officiel. They can always be found.... BUT awards to foreigners stopped to be published in that Journal in the late 1800s.
Vous avez raison de penser que des archives existent pour les médailles de sauvetage françaises officielle : à l'époque c'était le Journal Officiel. On peut toujours les retrouver .... mais les médailles données à des étrangers ne le sont plus depuis la fin du XIXe


Therefore if he received the medal as a member of a French crew, he should have been published. If, on the contrary it was awarded for courage & humanity on the British coasts, for instance, then he would probably not be.
Si donc il a été décoré au titre d'un équipage français auquel il aurait appartenu, son nom devrait y figurer. Si, au contraire, la médaille a été attribuée pour actes de courage et de dévouement dans un sauvetage à l'étranger, comme les côtes britanniques par exemple, ce ne sera pas le cas.


A possible source would be the Merchant Marine Bulletin Officiel, which may have carried the notice of award

On peut encore consulter le Bulletin Officiel de la Marine Marchandde, qui pourrait avoir publié l'attribution.

In other words sources probably exist, but they might be hard to find. I have one of those awarded in 1932 to a OMA MEAH which I still have not uncovered...... but that, as they used to say in the Plain Tales from the Hills, is an other story.
En somme, il y a une documentation officielle mais elle peut être difficile à dénicher. C'est ainsi que j'ai une médaille attribuée en 1932 à un certain OMA MEAH que je n'ai toujours pas trouvé... mais comme disait Kipling, ceci est une autre histoire.


Good luck!

Vétéran

sorry having trouble loading picture.

However is silver with the head of a lady facing the right side of the coin face. The words REPVBLIQUE FRANCAISE is across the top. the ladies eyes are level with the C in FRANCSAISE.

Ribbon is red white blue vertical stripes and has a red ships anchor on the central white strip.

There is a picture I found of the same front coin I found under topic elsewhere on this forum. Hence my enquiry.

What I am also interested in is why this medal would be awarded ? Is is a common medal in France and what level of bravery one this ?

Just trying to understand what Henry must have done to win it ?

Thanks for info veteren. Have no idea if Henry was workign on a French ship ? With his life history it may not be a surpise if he was. This man was born in Glasgow Scotland, moved to New Zealand as a sailor (more likely as a Merchant sailor then disappeared in NZ). He then went to war in WW1 with the NZ Expeditionary Force and fought at Gallipoli and in France. He then returned to NZ and then came back to England mid 1920's and joined the British Merchant Navy in WW2. His service records in WW1 make he to be quite a charachter with lots of naughty things as AWOL etc.

Is there an online list for French awards that can be checked or an email I can ask at the official Gazette ?

Thanks Alan

Hello,

I think it is this medal ?

http://www.forum-insignes-medailles.net/t42754-courage-et-devouement-dans-la-marine-marchande

It is not a common award and Henry Morton must have done some special bravery act, it's quite sure. There are several Henry Morton on the web site EllisIsland, which give informations about passengers or crew members whose ship went to New-York, but I don't think that this site would give you informations about awards. Moreover, unfortunately, Henry Morton are common first and last names, so I think it will be difficult to find something.

Best regards,
P4

Alan

Sorry I cannot tell if there is a eMail site to the Journal Officiel, but I rather doubt it. Chances would be better with the Merchant Marine Bulletin Officiel, but it is not easy to find

Désolé, je ne sais pas si le J.O. a été numérise, mais j'en doute. Il serait probablement plus sur d'avoir recours au B.O. Marine Marchande, mais il n'est pas aisé à trouver.

Regards

Veteran

Thanks P4. Yes that's the medal, except Henry Morton's is in silver.

Hello,

I have noticed these five recorded medals of honnor awarded by the French ministère de la Marine (Marine Marchande) in the year 1927 :

Silver BAKER .F. (Glendining dec 1984 N°241)

Bronze BOCH W. & TASSONE F.

And two british groups with silver French medal awarded to WALKER J.H. and POUTIE W.T., from the White Star SS IONIC that have saved 24 members of the crow from the French shooner Daisy, April 15 1927. (OMRS 1980 VOL19 (2) p 86.)

Eventualy, Morton's medal is in relation with this shipwreck ? Or not ...

Regards

Cuss

Hello Cuss,

You are definately right. I have managed to find a Marine Marchande Certificate for the medal in my relatives loft. It think it reads (but please excuse my wording):

"Le Ministre des Ciavaar Publics certifie que, par un Decret en date du 26 Juin 1928, le President de la Republique Francaise a decerne la Medaille di Sauvetage en argent a Monsieur MORTON, H. Sujet angliais matelot a bord du paquelot anglaise 'Ionic' pour reconnaitre le courage et le devouement dont il a fait preure. le 15 avril 1927, en se portant dans une embarcation du bord, en enpleine mers, au se cours de la goelette Daisy, qui imenacais de couler a la suite d une roie d eau'

Dated 27th Juin 1928 and signed by the Directeur des Services du Travail at de l'Enseignement Maritimes.

Any help in translating thsi certifcate or any information on the incident with the Daisy is most welcome.

Cuss, it is strange that Henry Morton is not mentioned on the teh record you have found ?

Best Regards,

Alan

Hello,

It's a good fortune to have find again thIs paper that attests that Morton was awarded at the occasion of the wreck of the French goélette Daisy, as a crewman of the rowing boat from the Ionic, that rescued the shipmen of the Daisy.

The list of all the seamen awarded at this occasion was not published in the OMRS paper.

Eventually, Baker and Boch were also concerned ?

Regards

Cuss