A RARE medal awarded to a lifeboat skipper after a heroic mercy mission more than 130 years ago is going under the hammer at auction.

The lifeboat went to the aid of a stricken Dutch steamship in horrendous weather.

The 438-ton Ingerid was sailing from Norway to Naples with a cargo of fish on January 17, 1881, when she struck the Sunk Sand, off Clacton.

The captain and six remaining crewmen were forced to lash themselves to the mast in the bitter cold.

The wreck was finally reported by the Cork Lightship three days later and the Harwich lifeboat, Springwell, was launched at 7pm. But the cold was so severe, it had to cut through ice to reach the mouth of the harbour.

The lifeboat crew rowed courageously through stormy seas for eight hours to reach the Ingerid before dawn.

The crew - led by Captain A St Vincent Nepean and assistant coxswain William Britton - boarded the ship and helped the survivors into the lifeboat before setting off on the gruelling return journey.

Nepean and Britton were awarded gold life-saving medals by the Netherlands and silver medals by the RNLI. Their 11-strong lifeboat crew received silver Dutch medals.

To read the complete article, see:Hero lifeboat skipper's medal to be auctioned(www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/local/10819389.Hero_lifeboat_skipper_s_medal_to_be_auctioned/)