Obverse: Within an oak wreath. Inscription: 'REPUBLIQUE FRANCAISE'. Reverse: An oval shield with inscription having as supporters a female figure (left) holding a laurel branch, and Mercury (right) with caduceus, both standing on a pedestal decorated with an olive branch (centre). Legend: 'MINISTERE DE LA MARINE ET DES COLONIES'. Inscription: 'A ROOK CAPITAINE DE LA GOELETTE ANGLAISE EXPRESS. SERVICES A LA MARINE MARCHANDE FRANCAISE 1871'. Fitted with a loop and ring and tricolour ribbon.

Awarded to Captain Thomas William Rook (1833-1900) of the schooner ‘Express’ of Portsmouth, for picking up ten crew members and eight passengers from the French barque ‘Costa Rica’ 800 tons Captain Ernest Gauve. On the 15 December 1871, 25 miles south-west of the Isle of Wight, the ship 'Windsor Castle' 1869 of Aberdeen, Captain William Cargill, ran into the French vessel which began to sink. The ship refused to pick up survivors who were left clinging to wreckage and flotsam after the barque went down (her mate had ordered everything that would float to be cut loose). Captain Rook, heard the crash, saw the immediate aftermath of the collision and ordered the schooner to tack towards the ‘Costa Rica’. Although 'Express' saved eighteen people, her captain, six seamen and ten passengers drowned after she sank. A subsequent inquiry at Greenwich on the 4 January 1872 exonerated the master of the 'Windsor Castle' of all blaim.