A treasure trove of bravery awards relating to a First World War airship crash is to go under the hammer in an auction next week, almost a century after the tragedy.
On Saturday 21 July 1917 the C11, a coastal class airship based at the Royal Naval Air Station at Howden, was on a test flight after the repair of damage caused in a crash in Scarborough went down again, this time into the River Humber, and burst into flames.
Four members of the crew were killed but two were thrown clear and were rescued by a part time policemen and his fifteen year old Boy Scout son.
Frederick Higham, the manager of the Brough gasworks and a special constable, was at the works with his son Arthur that day. Realising the airship was in trouble, they ran down to the riverbank and when the craft hit the water and exploded they swam out to the wreckage to reach the two injured crewmen.
Frederick got his man ashore and then went back into the water to assist his son who was keeping the second crewman afloat, although they were both being swept out into the river by the tide.
Their actions that day resulted in a mass of awards and commendations: Each received Royal Humane Society certificates and medals. They were also presented with inscribed 18-carat gold pocket watches and certificates by the South Hunsley Constabulary. Frederick was made an OBE. Arthur was awarded the Boy Scouts Silver Cross For Gallantry, with a certificate signed by Baden Powell, a Silver Fox award and a gold fob for his new pocket watch.
Graham Paddison of auctioneers Dee Atkinson & Harrison said: “ The C11 was one of four airships stationed at the Howden base to carry out anti-submarine patrols in the North Sea. They were non-rigid airships – blimps – that were known locally as ‘the Howden Pigs’.
“The C11 had a particularly unfortunate career. On the day it went down in the Humber it was actually on a test flight to check repairs and rebuilding after another crash just a few weeks earlier. On that occasion it clipped a hill at Scarborough in thick fog on its way home from a North Sea patrol. It lost the tail skid, after engine, engineer’s seat – and flight engineer – in the strike but limped on for a few miles before crashing.
“One man was killed and several injured although remarkably the engineer left behind on the hillside was unhurt. He walked to the nearest post office and sent his base the surreal message ‘Have landed safely with engine. Request further instructions’.”
Asked how much the collection is expected to raise when it goes under the hammer, Mr Paddison said: “Accurately valuing something like this is difficult. The constituent parts of the collection, from gold watches and medals to the gallantry certificate signed by Baden Powell himself, are worth £2,000 – £3,000.
“Where we go after that is anyone’s guess.”