BRAVEST MAN OF THE YEAR.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 3166, 8 October 1892, Page 2 (Supplement)

BRAVEST MAN OF THE YEAR.

Lieut. W. B. HoDDr,ESTON r , Royal Indian Murine, basjust been presented by Captain Hcxt, C. I. -K. Bombay, in tlio presence oi all the Marinu ofli'jors in port, with ths Stanhope Modal for the most meritorious act in saying , life in the previous your. The circumstances under which thin act took place wore as follows :In December, 1890, Hie marine Survey steamer Investigator was engaged in trawling, in I.SOO fathoms, in the Bay of Bengal. The officers and most of the ship's company happened at the time to bo at breakfast, and Mr. Huddle.ston and the gunnor of the ship, Mr. Peterson, along with a few lasears of tho watch, were looking , after tho trawl. As the ship drifted with the trawl down three largo sharks appeared, swimming round tho ship on the look-out for anything that mk'ht be thrown overboard. In these citvirnstan'.'O* it is tho custom (not r-xclwivcK-, perhaps, for tho benefit, of the Naturalists' Department) to put out tho shark line, and ucL-oroingly the "miner baited tho >haik hook and shot it overboard. It was almost immediately gorged, and one of the sharks was hooked fast. It is no easy matter to haul on board a struggling shark weigh-in-r several hundredweights, aud so the "iinner, in accordance with tradition, brought forward a loaded rifle to shoot the unmanageable beast withal. But in tho excitement of the moment, and in Ins anxiety to get as close as possible, tho eager marksman fell overboard. By virtue of that curious paradox so commonly illustrated by sailors and fishermen,'the man could not swim ; but what worse was that there wevo the other sharks close by, attracted by the slashing, of their captured mate, Without waiting to pull off his coat or kick off his shoee, "Mr. Huddbston at once jumped overboard to the rescue, and it was not until he had got hold of the gunner and had seen himsaffy hauled on board that he began to thins of himself escaping from imminent danger—for one of tho sharks w>is already smelling at the brave younsr officer's cap, which had fallen off and was driftiusr slowly away. This act of devotion was brought to tho notice of tho authorities by the commander of tho Investigator, the lamented Captain Hoslcyn, and was by them reported to the Royal Humane Society : and Mr. Hn'ddlcston, in May hist year, received the silver medal of the society, pro civo servttto. Tho act has now been singled out from tho several hundred acts of bravery recognised by the society for the highest honour that the society can confer, and Mr. Huddleston is now decorate 1 with tho Stanhope Gold Medal, the first to bo worn by an officer of the Indian Marine.