A long day in the Baltic

June the 21st is the longest day in the year. For Charles Davis Lucas June 21st 1854 must have been the longest day of his life, it was certainly one of the most important. He had joined the navy in 1848 when he was just 13. In 1854 he was serving as a Mate on board HMS Hecla in the Baltic. They were bombarding Bomarsund, a fort in the Åland Islands off of Finland. The soldiers manning the fort were not taking it laying down and were firing back on the Hecla and the other ships in the squadron. One shell from the fort slammed the Hecla and slithered across the wooden deck with its fuse still smoking. A shout went out immediately for everybody to get down, but Lucas didn't. He ran over to the shell and threw it overboard before the fuse had chance to burn down. It was a close run thing as the shell exploded even before it hit the water but thanks to his actions nobody was hurt. Seeing his actions his commanding officer immediately promoted him to Lieutenant. Two years later when the Victoria Cross was created Lucas was one of the first people to be given it. His captain of that day also later gave him his daughter's hand in marriage, but that is not really related to the incident. He ended his career a Captain, and was later promoted to Rear-Admiral when he was on the retired list.