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Medal Name: Saving Life from the Perils of the Sea
Approval: Act of Congress
OBVERSE
LIFE SAVING MEDAL OF THE FIRST CLASS · UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. ·
Three men in a boat in a heavy sea.
One is rescuing a person who has hold of a spar, at the end of which is a block with its sheet.
Another is standing, casting a rope, and a third is seated and rowing.
In the distance, to the left, is the wreck of a large vessel.
REVERSE
IN TESTIMONY OF HEROIC DEEDS IN SAVING LIFE FROM THE PERILS OF THE SEA.
A female figure, standing, holds in her left hand a wreath of oak, and with her right is preparing to inscribe the name of the recipient on a monument which is surmounted by the American eagle, and to the right of which are a mast, a yard with its sail bent, an anchor, a sextant, and a branch of laurel.
Exergue: ACT OF CONGRESS JUNE 20th 1874
BACKGROUND
Act of Congress Instituting Life Saving Medals
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled: That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby directed to cause to be prepared medals of honor, with suitable devices, to be distinguished as Life-Saving Medals of the first and second class, which shall be bestowed upon any persons who shall hereafter endanger their own lives in saving, or endeavoring to save lives from perils of the sea, within the United States, or upon any American vessel:
Provided, That the medalof the first class shall be confined to cases of extreme and heroic daring, and that the medal of the second class shall be given in cases not sufficiently distinguished to deserve the medal of the first class:
Provided also, That no award of either medal shall be made to any person until sufficient evidence of his deserving shall have been filed with the Secretary of the Treasury and entered upon the records of the Department.
Approved June 20, 1874.
Source: The Medallic History of the United States of America 1776-1876 by J. F. Loubat, LL.D. (1878)