mariner

British General Service Medal 1968-to date... clasps... Air Ops Iraq Northern Iraq & Southern Turkey Also Campaign Service Medal 1918-1968 Clasps...Iraq Kurdistan Naval GSM clasp Iraq

UN Weapon Inspectors

America Gulf War 2

Nato.....

I would be very interested to know how many different medals have been awarded for service in Iraq over the years. Below are a few that I know of.... Poland for Op Telic

Hi, I recently discovered that I have a relative, who served in Runcorn Police around 1882. His name was Charles Christopher Wardell, his rank is given as Detective. Can anyone tell me which Constabulary Runcorn came under in 1882. Also is there anywhere that I could contact in order to obtain details of his service. Mariner.

The Lost Treasure of the Douro Loaded with coffee, diamonds, gold and affluent passengers, the RMS Douro was on the final leg of a 10,000-mile voyage from the trading ports in Brazil to England on April 1, 1882, when it collided with another ship and sank. Thirteen unlucky people on board the Douro and the entire cargo went down with the ship, presumably lost forever at the bottom of the Bay of Biscay in the Atlantic Ocean. Lost for over a century, but not forgotten... Disaster on the High Seas A comfortable and elegant vessel, the Royal Mail Steamer Douro was one of the most popular vessels of its day. She was a particular favorite of wealthy first class passengers traveling from South America to England via Portugal. On April 1, 1882, the Douro was on the final leg of what was fated to be her last voyage. Late that evening a passenger was taking a stroll on deck to get some fresh air before retiring for the night when he noticed a light in the distance. He informed the ship's fourth officer, who identified it as a ship some two miles away. Confident that the Bridge was keeping watch, the officer took no action. Within minutes, the Spanish steamer Yrurac Bat ploughed into the Douro's starboard side. The impact was with such force that the Yrurac Bat rebounded and, with her engines still propelling her forward, struck the Douro a second time. The Douro immediately stopped its engines as pandemonium broke out among the passengers. Roused from their beds, panic-stricken passengers ran this way and that, not knowing which lifeboat they should report to. It only took 30 minutes for the Douro to sink. As precious time slipped away, the lifeboats were jammed in their davits and no one had a knife to cut them free. When the lifeboats were finally launched, the oarlocks could not be found. To make matters worse, some of the boats were also missing their plugs, which resulted in frantic bailing in order to keep them afloat. The rule of women and children first was strictly adhered to. Of the six passengers who drowned, none were children. However, one was a woman who, in a state of panic, refused to get into a boat. The captain, four Senior Officers and the Chief and Second Engineers went down with the ship, though 49 passengers and 60 crewmembers were saved. The Yrurac Bat sank in 15 minutes and 30 people lost their lives. Survivors from both ships were rescued by the British steamer Hidalgo. The Discovery and Salvage of the Douro Besides passengers, the Douro was also carrying nearly 30,000 gold and silver coins. The entire treasure cargo sank with the ship to the bottom of the Bay of Biscay. For nearly 60 years, nothing else was heard of the Douro and her fabulous treasure. But in 1949, Thomas Pickford, a shipwreck researcher, hastily scribbled a note that read, “Douro, 1882, ?53,000, Bay of Biscay.” At that time, the thought of recovering a cargo of gold from inside a collapsed and rusting iron hull 1,500 feet down was considered impossible, so Pickford set the note aside and forgot about it. Thirty years later, his son, Nigel Pickford, rediscovered the note. Fascinated by the story of the Douro and its fabulous cargo, the younger Pickford spent the next 13 years researching old newspaper articles, log books, company directors' reports, drawings, personal records, banking records and ancient sea charts. By means of careful analysis of statements made by witnesses and survivors —combined with detailed calculations on ships' speeds, routes and times of departures — Pickford and salvage specialist Sverker Hallstrom determined an initial search area of 150 square miles. Ignoring a rumor that another salvage team had located the Douro and had reported that the wreck was in too poor a condition for any salvage attempt, Hallstrom set sail in search of the Douro on June 4, 1993. Recovering the Treasure Equipped with sonar, cameras and other state-of-the-art equipment, the salvage team spent two years searching for the Douro. During that time, they battled terrible weather conditions while discovering a large number of Victorian-era shipwrecks. Many of the wrecks had to be investigated to determine if they were the Douro. By the end of 1994, Hallstrom and Pickford believed they had found the Douro. After retrieving the ship's bell in 1995, the team realized they had the wrong ship. It turned out to be the wreck of the S.S. Gijon, which sank in the same area in 1884. Later that year, the salvage team finally discovered the Douro in a treacherous tangle of old fishing nets and rope. The final confirmation was the discovery of a porcelain plate. When the plate was brought to the surface, it bore the Royal Mail's insignia of a seahorse, proving that the Douro had been found. Excavation work began on the stowage position by Deepsea Worker LTD, an international deep-water, heavy-lift salvage company. The exact location of the bullion room had not been found, but a combination of luck and patient analysis paid dividends. In the course of the carefully targeted recovery operations from the bullion room in the aft section of the ship, 28,000 gold and silver coins — featuring an unprecedented range and variety of gold sovereigns — were brought to the surface. After 113 years, the treasure of the Douro finally made it to England.

I believe that some of the coins salvaged from the Douro, where sold by Spink in London, on Wednesday 20th November and Thursday the 21st November 1996.

I have a 3 band tower musket of 1859 era type, usual arrows on the butt, with crown on the hammer plate. However on the butt plate it has the following markings, can anyone tell me what they mean? V K6 18