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GLEANINGS FROM THE GROVE

on February 1st which not only damaged the Meritorious Service Medal in Silver, rare in
bridge, but the rudder and water poured into those days. He did not receive his medal until

her cargo holds. The ship was thus dead in the 1975 for some unknown (to me) reason. He was
water, no steering capability and for three weeks then invited to London, and with his wife at
she was feared sunk, a total loss of all hands and his side, was feted by the Deputy Chairman
cargo. Two medals were awarded for the actions of Lloyd’s (a distant relative of mine) and in a

of the captain, first engineer and first officer who special ceremony given his medal in a nice case
assisted the passengers, controlled the horses, with the Lloyd’s crest emblazoned on the lid.
and salvaged the cargo. They eventually were His medal was the last silver medal given in the
towed into the Azores. Even the Kaiser himself 1970’s, and very few have been awarded since that

congratulated them for the gallantry, awarding time. The courage and personal effort by him
the captain with an order of knighthood. The to save the ship was in my mind the ultimate
way the ribbon was mounted on this un-named sea adventure. There were so many details of
medal was a fancy Prussian style, and I wonder, this rescue recorded in the daily newspapers in

was this the captain’s worn before the emperor Singapore and London that I have not mentioned.
himself? There you have it, dear readers and fellow
The other medal is a later version of the 1899 Toastmasters—blazing ships, weather damaged
medals earned heroically in 1972 by an oil tanker ships, injured crewmen, and ordinary men

captain. At 3:00 pm on the 25th of January, the giving their all for their fellow seafarers up to
S.S. Kymo which had left Indonesia earlier for and including life’s sacrifice. What stories could
Yokohama, was rocked by one, then another be told in your Pathways journey? What possible
explosion in the cargo hold. Carrying a load examples can be gleaned from these seemingly

of flammable cooking oil, she was soon ablaze, plain looking medallic awards can be used in
and the captain ordered all stop and the crew other speeches or competitive speeches? That is
to abandon ship except for himself. Accessing one of the plusses of our Toastmasters program.
the situation, he managed to convince the chief We can take these facts, spin a yarn or two, and

engineer and three crewmen to reboard the ship entertain, educate, and elucidate each other by
and over night they fought the blaze, saving simply taking what is around us.
the ship and most of the cargo. At one point My challenge to you is this; what do you have
the captain Christophoros Kakkaris jumped to offer your club? What incident in your life, or

overboard with a rope tied around himself to family history, or object you have can you write
free an anchor chain which had fouled one of a speech about and share it with your club? Try
the screws. Helicopters and other ships rescued it on for size. You will look, sound, and be great
the crew in their lifeboats, and the huge tanker at it. That’s being a Toastmaster!

was towed into Singapore the next day. As the Now, let us talk about that 1814 “incident” with
loss was minimal (in comparison to losing the a match, a torch and a certain white building in
ship and all the cargo,) Lloyd’s voted the captain Washington, DC. It all started with a . . .
their personal thanks and awarded him the

30 ONE COMMUNITY