Lot 994
Medal. Silver. 32.3 mm. 20 gm. By W.J. Taylor, London. Diakov--, BHM--. Raising of the Russian Sebastopol Fleet, 1860. Stars and Stripes behind a keg, cannon, anchor and cannonballs; TO COM: THE RAISING OF THE RUSSIAN FLEET FROM THE HARBOR OF SEVASTOPOL. BY J.E. GOWEN / Steam-powered salvage ships pumping out wooden Russian ship, mountains framing harbor in background, 1857-58-59-60. A very rare and fascinating medal in the annals of marine salvage – the raising of the Russian vessels sunk by the Allies in the Crimean War. Choice about uncirculated. Value $1,000 - UP
Lieutenant Colonel John E. Gowen was contracted by the Russian government to raise the 70 ships scuttled during the Crimean War from Sevastopol Harbor. Gowen apparently served in the U.S Army and in the mid-1860s worked for the Russian government in varying capacities and as a naval engineer. A few years later, in 1869, he became involved in a plan to raise the Spanish treasure-laden ships from Vigo Bay, which had been scuttled in 1702 to keep them out of English hands. The Bostonian Society published in 1895 a catalog of the items it owned and displayed at the Old State House in Boston. Item 162 reads: "Two Cutlasses…taken from a ship sunk off the harbor of Sebastopol during the Crimean War, and raised by Col Gowen of Lynn [Massachusetts]".
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| Realized $2,700 |
