![]() Up to 2004, a total of 150 gold, 1,563 silver and 791 bronze medals had been awarded. Since about 1852 the current suspension, in the form of two dolphins, has been used, and additional awards in the same class have been recognised by clasps attached to the ribbon. The very first medals were presented without any means of suspension, and then with a suspension loop for the plain dark blue ribbon. The medal is engraved on the edge with the name of the recipient and the date the award was approved. The original reverse was restored for issues from 1911. The reverse of the Edward VII version shows a figure of Hope adjusting the lifejacket of a lifeboatman. The reverse, designed by William Wyon, shows three sailors in a lifeboat rescuing a fourth from the sea, below the inscription "Let not the deep swallow me up" taken from Psalm 69. In 1937 Royal permission to portray George VI was refused, as the award is not granted by the Crown, and since then the profile of the RNLI founder Sir William Hillary has been used. In 1862 this was changed to a profile of Queen Victoria, with changes to Edward VII in 1902 and George V in 1911. When established in 1824, the obverse bore the effigy of King George IV, the first patron of the Institution. Īpart from the metal of manufacture, the design of the three classes is the same. These included coastguard officers and those who affected a rescue by wading or swimming into the sea from the shore. ![]() While awards are now only made to lifeboat crew who risk their lives in rescue attempts, a number of nineteenth century medals were bestowed on others who saved life from the sea. The medal can be awarded for saving life at sea in gold, silver and, since 1917, in bronze. The medal was established in 1824, the same year the RNLI was founded, to reward "humane and intrepid exertions in saving life from shipwrecks on our coasts, deemed sufficiently conspicuous to merit honourable distinction".
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