Awarded to Captain Frederick Edwards RN (1842-1911). Obverse: Head of Queen Victoria in a diadem and veil (left) Legend: 'VICTORIA REGINA'. Reverse: A group of soldiers and Africans fighting in the bush for their fallen comrades. Inscribed on edge: 'F. EDWARDS. R.N, H.M.S, RATTLESNAKE 73-74'. Suspended from a bar, and yellow ribbon with a broad black edge and two narrow black central stripes.

In October 1870 Edwards was sent out to the Cape of Good Hope in ‘Thalia’ to join ‘Rattlesnake’ - the flagship of the Commander in Chief of the Cape of Good Hope and West Africa Station. During the Ashanti War, by then under the command of John Edmund Commerell, ‘Rattlesnake was sent to the Gold Coast. Edwards commanded one of the boats in a reconnaissance of the Pra river led by Commerell on 14 August 1873. The boats came under fire from the bank and Commerell was badly wounded. In retaliation, ‘Rattlesnake’ bombarded the town of Chama (Shama). Owing to Commerell's condition, the ship returned to the Cape of Good Hope and then to Britain later the same year. Edwards remained on her books until she paid off in 1874.