Man O' War visits Åland Islands

The Åland Island's archipelago.

Man O’ War recently arrived in the Åland Islands to visit the family home on Järsö. The old place might need a lick of paint but it is still bloody solid. Which is no surprise given it was built with the red granite stones of Bomarsund , a nineteenth century fortress on Sund in the Åland Islands, which was destroyed during the Crimean War in 1854 by a combined British-French fleet.

Man O' War visits the ruins of Bomarsund.

Although the main theater of the war was the Crimean Peninsula, as Britain and France battled Russia over the fate of the declining Ottoman Empire, it was also fought on a Northern Front in the Baltic Sea. In a peripheral action so beoved by British Commanders over the centuries, a joint Anglo-French fleet sought to blockade the Russian Baltic Fleet in the Gulf of Finland and attack Russian coastal defences.

After general marauding along the Finnish coast and with the Russian fleet unwilling to come out and play the taskforce decided to have a crack at the large Russian fortress at Bomarsund which guarded the entry to the Gulf of Bothnia. And as such, on the evening of June 21 1854, the H.M.S Hecla, Odin and Valorous steamed up to and began to bombard Bomarsund. At the height of the action, which lasted most of the night, a live shell landed on the Hecla’s upper deck with the fuse still hissing. All hands were ordered to fling themselves flat on the deck, but Mr. Charles Lucas (a 20 year old mate) with great presence of mind ran forward and hurled the shell into the sea, where it exploded with a tremendous roar before it hit the water. Thanks to Mr. Lucas's action no one was killed or seriously wounded and he was immediately promoted to Lieutenant by his Commanding Officer.

The red granite of Åland used to build Bomarsund.

Mr. Lucas' action, together with other individual acts of bravery during the action, prompted the British government to create "an Order of Merit to persons serving in the army or navy for distinguished and prominent personal gallantry to which every grade should be admissible". As a result on 26 June 1857, at the inaugural ceremony, the first ever Victoria Cross was personally awarded to Lieutenant Lucas by Queen Victoria herself, for his act of bravery at Bomarsund.

While in Åland Man O’ War visited Bomarsund, and in honour of Mr. Lucas’ selfless act of valour there we decided we will celebrate him with our 2011 vintage shirt. Bit of wait but it will be a minter when it comes out. Cheers, B

Memorial at Bomarsund to Mr. Lucas the recipient of the first ever VC.