Uncommon, only three copies on COPAC.
Commissioned 1887 for service on the China Station, Captain Henry Coey Kane, Calliope was caught in the hurricane that struck Samoa in 1889. This history “written on the 50th Anniversary.”
“Fatalities had by this time become too general to warrant a hope for the safety of any ship in the harbour. It seemed but a matter of another hour or two when the fleet would be nothing but a mass of useless wreckage. To the surprise of everyone, however, at this critical moment the Calliope turned her head to the gale, and picking her way with consummate skill through the dangerous passage steamed out of the harbour and soon disappeared in the haze as she walked the open sea.” [p.60]
The flamboyant & dubious Marquis de Leuville had a medal struck in gold for Captain Kane “in honour of British seamanship”, white metal/pewter copies of which were privately presented to the officers and crew of the ship, official presentation having been vetoed [NMM has an example described as a “counter”, images at E3734-1 & 2 on the NMM web-site].
This copy inscribed on the front free endpaper. “Captain E. Dangerfield, Royal Navy from E.W. Swan, March 1934.” Dangerfield was Flag Lieutenant to the Duke of Kent on the China Station.
