Back to Album of watercolours, facsimilie watercolours, prints and cuttings relating to the 12th Royal Lancers. Vol 1 1742-1876
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Item 0027
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Image details
| Accession number | 912L : 2440/1 |
|---|---|
| Transcription |
A BIRKENHEAD SURVIVOR . THE FIFTY - FIFTH ANNIVERSARY , With one exception , the last of the brave men who survived the wreck of the Birkenhead is Cap tain Bond - Shelton , who is now in his seventy - fifth year . It is fifty - five years ago to - day since this famous troopship was wrecked off the coast of Africa ; all the world knows the story of how the soldiers and crew refused to leave the sinking ves sel until the women and children had been saved , and how , when these latter had reached the shore in the boats , it was too late for the men to escape except by swimming ashore in a sea infested with sharks . Ralph MacGeough Bond - Shelton ( formerly Ralph Shelton Bond ) was born at Cheltenham on Novem ber 14th , 1832. He received his education at Chel tenham College and in Paris and Dresden , and entered the 12th Lancers in 1851. On the night Captain R. M. Bond - Shelton . of February 26th , 1852 , Cornet Bond was in the Birkenhead , together with a brother officer , a ser geant , and five men of his regiment , when she struck on the rock , known as Danger Point , at the Cape of Good Hope , and rapidly went to pieces . There were on board detachments of ten regi ments , which , with the crew and the women and children , gave a total of 633 persons ; of these no fewer than 445 perished . Cornet Bond and his Lancers rendered much assistance after the ship struck by getting the terrified horses up on deck and pushing them into the sea , and at the last moment , at the imminent risk of his own life , he succeeded in rescuing two young children from the saloon - cabin , who would inevitably have perished but for his bravery . When the vessel broke up he made his way to the shore by swimming for two miles amid sharks and wreck age , being in a state of great exhaustion when he finally succeeded in effecting a landing . He served in the Kaffir war of 1852-53 , in the Crimean war of 1854-55 - when he took part in the siege and fall of Sevastopol - and afterwards in the Indian Mutiny , 1857-58 . He then retired from the army , and in 1359 was with the allied French and Italian forces in the war with the Austrians . 39 A ABC கன் 40 Reproduction of the painting in the Officers Mess . Lege MADAWAY CAPTAIN WELLESLY GARG SREEFT ILUSEAD CON ARS COLONEL CLOCTE HELISTER the SCOP CATHER.C Note / The artist has taken certain liberties as the full dress as shewn , was not worn on active service , the stable jacket forage cap with white cover , no shabraque would be correct . Painted by CAPTAIN COODRICH Fro an engraving by J. Harris , after the painting by Henry Martens , from a sketch by Captain Carey , Cape Mounted Rifles , in the possession of Messrs . A. Ackermann & Son , 191 , Regent Street , W. ] THE 12TH ROYAL LANCERS , ROYAL ARTILLERY , AND CAPE MOUNTED RIFLES , CROSSING THE ORANGE RIVER , DECEMBER , 1852 . |
