Obverse: Head of George IV (left). Legend outer: 'ROYAL NATIONAL INSTITUTION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF LIFE FROM SHIPWRECK'. Legend inner: 'GEORGE THE FOURTH PATRON 1824'. Below truncation: 'W WYON MINT'. Reverse: Three men in a boat pulling a fourth out of the water, a broken spar below. Legend: 'LET NOT THE DEEP SWALLOW ME UP'. On spar: 'W.WYON MINT'. Inscription on edge: 'LIEUT. JOHN BULLEY. R.N. VOTED FEB 18:1843'. Engraved on lifeboat: 'Lieut. John Bulley R.N. Voted 4 Feb 1848'. Suspended by a loop and a ring from a pale blue ribbon. Hanging by chains below the medal, a gold lifeboat. The gold medal was awarded to Lieutenant John Bulley RN (1797-1866) for helping to rescue the crew of the brig ‘George’ of Sunderland, wrecked in Atherfield Bay in January 1843.The boat was a clasp added for successfuly rescuing fifteen crew members of the barque 'Llanrumney' from St John, New Brunswick, which came ashore at the same location on the 29th December 1847. Two fishermen drowned in an an earlier rescue attempt.

Bulley entered the Navy 12 February 1812 as a Midshipman. While in ‘Charybdis’ involved in the operations against New Orleans in 1814-15. He passed the examination for Lieutenant in 1819 and was promoted on 22 September 1826. In 1827 Bulley was invalided out of the Navy, and remained on half-pay until 1830 when he was appointed to the Coast Guard serving at the Torcross station (near Start Point) and Atherfield, Isle of Wight stations. His lifesaving medals were obtained during this period - in particular for his part with Lieutenant William Vicary in rescuing the crew of the brig ‘George’ of Sunderland, which went ashore in Atherfield Bay during the gale of 13 and 14 January 1843. He was promoted Commander in 1851 for good service in the Coast Guard and Captain on 1 August 1860. During the latter part of his life, Bulley was Superintendent of the Royal Sailor's Home at Portsmouth.