Has anyone seen one like it?

[buellmeister]

Gents,

I was recently given an opportunity to buy this cased medallion. It is what I believe a survival medal for those who were aboard the SS California that was an ocean liner that was torpedoed by the Germans in 1917. The medal exhibits several silver hallmarks and is inscribed on the reverse as: SS California, S and A Club. I assume the "S" denotes survival and not quite sure what the "A" stands for.. Has anyone seen a medal like it? Thanks goes out to anyone who can provide additional information.

A brief description of the event:

THE CALIFORNIA TORPEDOED WITHOUT WARNING
WOMEN AND CHILDREN AMONG 43 MISSING

The Anchor liner California a vessel of nearly 9000 tons was torpedoed without warning and sunk by a German submarine on Wednesday morning while on a voyage from New York to Glasgow. According to the latest information 43 persons are missing 13 passengers among whom are seven women and four children and 30 of the crew. A number of the missing are believed to have been killed by the explosion many of the crew and one passenger were injured.
The facts of the latest German sea crime have been simply told by the Second Officer of the California Mr. McCallum. The liner left New York on Monday January 29 for Glasgow with about 205 persons passengers and crew on board. At 10 minutes past 9 on Wednesday morning last without warning of any kind she was struck by a torpedo Mr. McCallum did not see either the submarine or the torpedo but he says that some of the crew assert that there were two submarines one on each side of the liner and that escape was impossible.
The captain who was on the bridge when the ship was struck immediately ordered the crew to the boat stations and the boats to be lowered away. The number of boats ready was in excess of the ships requirements. There was no panic and the passengers behaved splendidly. The women and children were first got into the boats and then others were lowered. One of the boats however got swamped. A number of the officers stood by until all the boats had been filled and they were obliged to plunge overboard to save themselves from being carried down. The captain was the last to leave the ship and was afterwards picked up by one of the boats.
Seven minutes after she was struck Mr. McCallum Says. the California went down stern foremost. Wireless messages for aid had been sent out as soon as the ship was hit and those in the boats were rescued in the course of about an hour.
The Times, Friday, Feb 09, 1917

source: irishshipwrecks.com

[BlackCat1982]

No picture?

[buellmeister]

Sorry pictures will follow. Experiencing technical difficulties with my Mac's email server quitting unexpectedly. I have the picture file transferred from my cell phone to my Mac and I cannot transfer the pictures from my email to my photos folder. My apologies once again.

[buellmeister]

Gents,

After my old Mac had crashed and resulting in the loss of over 1700 pictures of the military I've owned over the years, I had to buy a new one. Lets give this another go shall we?

[chesterpiglet]

Hi.
The medal was made in Chester in 1938 by Thomas James Skelton(not W.L.Thomson on the box). The box is marked Newcastle & although the Town marks are similar(especially if worn)the Newcastle Assay Office closed in 1884. I would normally associate S & A Club with Sports & Athletic Club.
Hope this helps a bit.

[chesterpiglet]

I searched online for you & found that there have been 7 SS California ships SS California - Wikipedia including 2 Ocean Liners that were built in 1923 & 27 respectively.

[buellmeister]

chesterpiglet,

I thank you so much for your insight. Certainly the silversmith marks tell a more complete story. As to the "Sports and Athletic Club" not sure how this would tie in with any of the ships that were named, SS California.. The mystery continues.

Thank you again for your help!

Regards,

Joel