Miniature kovsh presented to Captain Leslie Burr of HMS 'Porpoise', 1892.

Silver (originally gilt) kovsh (derived from a traditional Russian drinking vessel) with pierced handle and monogram below the lip. Around the lower part of the bowl in English script is engraved: 'Capt. Leslie Burr H.M.S. Porpoise 1892.' Around the top of the bowl is lettering in Cyrillic script, which translates as: 'If you drain this cup to the dregs do not complain about the contents'.

This presentation piece commemorates the part Captain Burr of HMS 'Porpoise' played in saving survivors from the P & O steamship 'Bokhara', built at Greenock in 1873 for the India Service. On 10 October 1892 she went aground on the Pescadores Islands, west of Taiwan, during a typhoon while bound from Shanghai to Hong Kong. Of the 125 passengers and crew, only 23 survived, including two passengers. The survivors were saved by local fishermen and taken to Peihon Island and later to Makung Mandarin, where they were picked up by the steamer 'Thales' and then transferred to HMS 'Porpoise'. Captain Burr disembarked the survivors at Hong Kong, from where on 16 October he sent a telegram to P & O to report the loss: 'I regret to report that the Bokhara is a total wreck near Sand Island in the Pescadores. She sank immediately, heavy seas having broken on board and put the fires out, so the ship became unmanageable. About 125 persons were lost and only 23 saved'.

Subscriptions were raised in Hong Kong and a Relief Committee set up. The loss was reported in the international press, and a monument was erected in Hong Kong.