Medals Related to Aviation, Germany, Untergang von Marineluftschiffes L-19 [The Loss of Zeppelin L-19], 1916, a struck bronze medal by K. Goetz, sailors on hull of airship, British trawler disappearing into distance, rev. Eye of Providence above legend, scales below, 56mm (K 174; Frankenhuis 1443; Kaiser 431; Jones, Dance of Death, 30). Very fine (£80-100)

On the night of 31 January 1916 the Zeppelin L-19 was one of a fleet of nine German airships that took part in a raid over Liverpool. On the return journey L-19 suffered engine trouble and, under fire from Dutch coastal defences, ditched off the coast of Holland. A British fishing trawler, the King Stephen, with a crew of nine, approached the Zeppelin but refused to take the 28 survivors on board, fearing the Germans would overpower the crew and take the trawler as a prize to Hamburg. Subsequent messages put in bottles by members of the Zeppelin crew were found off Norway and confirmed that they had been left to their fate in the icy North Sea. Ironically, some months later a U-boat captured the King Stephen and her crew were taken as prisoners of war