A fine S.G.M. group of eleven awarded to Captain W. A. F. Maltby, a Trinity House Pilot who for many years was ‘choice’ pilot for the Orient Line: he was appointed an Assistant Officer in the Royal Naval Minewatching Service following his retirement as Senior Pilot at Dover between the Wars, and was awarded the Danish Order of the Dannebrog for piloting the Danish ship Kronprincess Ingrid to the port on the occasion of the State Visit by King Frederick and Queen Ingrid
Sea Gallantry Medal, G.V.R., bronze officially named to: William A. F. Maltby, Wreck of the Blengfell, 17th Oct. 1898. An official ‘exchange issue’ from the original large type.
British War Medal and Mercantile Marine War Medals officially named to: William A. F. Maltby
1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Coronation 1911, unnamed as issued.
Denmark, Kingdom, Order of Dannebrog, F.IX.R., Knight’s breast badge, silver-gilt and enamel; Danish Household Medal, F.IX.R., with crown, gilt.
Mounted as worn, generally good very fine.
Spink, June 1989; Dix Noonan Webb, December 2005.
William Alfred Flower Maltby was born in Homerton, London on 4 November 1881 and first went to sea as a deck boy in 1895. Serving as a Seaman in the tug Simla, of London, he was awarded the Sea Gallantry Medal for his gallantry in rescuing the survivors of the iron barque Blengfell, of Liverpool, which whilst on passage from New York to London with a cargo of 329,300 gallons of naptha blew up off North Foreland, Margate; the Simla ran alongside and at great risk took off the survivors of her crew. Nine of the crew of the Blengfell, including her Captain, J. Johnson, were drowned; the recipient’s obituary notice in the Lloyd’s Shipping Gazette on 6 January 1956 states that Maltby ‘dived among the burning wreckage of a sinking ship.’
Maltby was licensed as a Trinity House pilot in June 1914; the following article appeared upon his retirement 37 years later:
‘After 57 years at sea, 37 of them as a Trinity House Pilot, Captain W. A. F. Maltby, popular Senior Pilot, who lived in Dover for many years, retires at the end of this month.
Captain Maltby, who is seventy, now lives at “Orion”, Beach Street, Deal, and during his long service to the sea has served in practically every type of vessel from sailing ship to modern ocean-going liner.
Last year he succeeded Captain Douglas Magub as Senior Pilot at Dover, and in May was responsible for piloting the Danish ship Kronprincess Ingrid to the port on the occasion of the State Visit by King Frederick and Queen Ingrid. He has been “choice” pilot for the Orient Line for a number of years and he recently completed his last mission for the Line when he took the Orion - after which he has named his house - from Brixham to Tilbury at the end of her voyage from the Far East.
Up to the end of last year Captain Maltby had piloted 3332 ships into port. The vessels had an aggregate tonnage of well over eight million, and he had taken them 213,637 miles. At the recent trials of the liners Orcades and Oronsay, he was in attendance, and spent 36 hours on the bridge of the Oronsay without a break.
In addition to the service medals which he holds, Captain Maltby was awarded the Sea Gallantry Medal in 1901 [sic] for his rescue of a man off Margate after a ship laden with naptha blew up. Last year he was decorated by the Danish King after he had piloted the Kronprincess Ingrid through the Channel.
For many years, while he lived in Dover, Captain Maltby occupied Belgrave House, 165 Folkestone Road.
Captain Maltby will not go into complete retirement, for he has just been appointed an Assistant Officer for the recently reformed Royal Naval Minewatching Service.’
Maltby died at Deal in January 1956.
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Product Code: EM4129
