you under authority of
the provisions of the seventh section of the Act of Congress,
approved June 20, 1874, for the extreme and heroic daring
manifested by you in the rescue, under circumstances of peculiar
peril and difficulty, of two men from the wreck of the schooner
"Consuello," near Marblehead, Ohio, on the 1st of May, 1875.

In sending you this medal it is remarked that it and the two
others respectively awarded to your associates in the hazardous
undertaking referred to, are the first that have been issued
under the provisions of the act above named, and the Department
is gratified that the law should commence its operations by
honoring and commemorating an action of such distinguished
gallantry.

I have the honor to be, Sir, your obedient servant,
Charles F. CONANT,
_Acting Secretary_.

_____

_Hugh Beard, James Conley, William Gregory, Charles Danslow, (p. 443)
John Dolman, George Lee, Philip Murphy, James Munday, James Martin,
William Ruffler, Samuel Richards, and William Stewart, members of the
crew of the Mersey Docks and Harbor Board; and E. Crabtree, Charles
Eddington, William Griffith, James Godfrey, W. Jones, John Dean, James
Duncan, James Harvey, Robert Lucas, Thomas Maloney, Charles McKenzie,
John Powell, John Robinson, R. J. Thomas, and Henry Williams, members
of the crew of the "Royal National Life-Boat Institution," at New
Brighton, England, for rescuing persons at the wreck of the American
Ship "Ellen Southard" September 27, 1875, at the mouth of River
Mersey, Liverpool, England. Awarded February 27, 1877._

Treasury Department, Office of The Secretary,
Washington, D. C. March 3d, 1877.
To
Mr. James MARTIN,[131]
Master of the Mersey Docks
and Harbor Board Life Boat, Liverpool, England.

[Footnote 131: Similar letters were sent to Hugh
Beard, James Conley, William Gregory, Charles
Danslow, John Dolman, George Lee, Philip Murphy,
James Munday, William Ruffler, Samuel Richards, and
William Stewart.]

Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a life-saving medal of
the first class, which has been awarded to you, und