Naval General Service Medal Roll 1793 1840

Captain Douglas Morris's classic Medal Roll. Recipients are listed by bar entitlement, then alphabetically. This book is a fine tribute to a great researcher whose tenacity and precision are unequalled in the field of naval medal research.

This medal, sanctioned in 1847 and issued in 1848, was awarded for services during the Napoleonic Wars 1801-14.It had been planned to award the medal for battles and campaigns as far back as 1793, but such was the time lapse that very few claimants would have come forward, and therefore the first clasp awarded was that for Egypt , for the campaign of 1801.Some 25,000 medals were issued with an almost infinite variety of the 29 clasps issued, the maximum on one medal being fifteen.The great variety of clasps and regiments found on this medal make it one of the most interesting of all campaign awards.The time lapse between the actual battles and the issue of the medal meant that only a small number of survivors from each regiment lived to receive the award.In addition, there were survivors who did not know about or could not claim the medal. Most of the clasps were awarded for service during the Peninsular War of 1811-14, although six clasps were issued for the Peninsula War of 1808-09.In addition, there were three clasps for services in Canada, two for services in the West Indies, and one each for Egypt (1801), Maida (Southern Italy 1806), and Java (1811).The obverse is the usual Wyon head of Victoria, with the date 1848 at the foot, whilst the reverse depicts Victoria placing a laurel wreath on Wellington as he kneels before her; there is also an inscription, and the British Lion is represented.The clasps were struck in groups of three where applicable, and then riveted together.The suspension is by a straight, swivelling suspension.The naming is always in impressed Roman capitals.There are too many rarities to detail both in terms of the clasps and the regiments, but it should be borne in mind that only about 10% of those who fought in these battles and campaigns lived to receive the medal, and that, when the number that have been lost, destroyed or placed in museums is taken into acount, this medal can be described as scarce and a considerable number of issues as rare.

Fully revised second edition of Peter Duckers best-selling guide to military medals. This second edition of Peter Duckers best-selling British Military Medals traces the history of medals and gallantry awards from Elizabethan times to the modern day, and it features an expert account of their design and production. Campaign and gallantry medals are a key to understanding - and exploring - British and imperial military history, and to uncovering the careers and exploits of individual soldiers. In a series of succinct and well-organized chapters he explains how medals originated, to whom they were awarded and how the practice of giving medals has developed over the centuries. His work is a guide for collectors and for local and family historians who want to learn how to use medals to discover the history of military units and the experiences of individuals who served in them.

From 1850 to 1854, the ambitious Commander Robert McClure captained the HMS Investigator on a voyage in search of the missing Franklin Expedition, which sailed from England into the Arctic in 1845 to map the last uncharted section of the North-West Passage. The Investigator and her consort the Enterprise were to pass through the Bering Strait from the west but a Pacific storm separated them, never to meet again. Obsessed with traversing the passage, McClure pressed on and HMS Investigator spent three years trapped in pack ice in Mercy Bay before the crew abandoned ship on foot. This book chronicles the voyage in detail. McClure and his relationships with his officers are at the heart of the story of the arduous journey, vividly illustrated by the paintings of Lt. Samuel Cresswell.

This is the dynamic account of one of the most destructive maritime actions to take place in Connecticut history: the 1814 British attack on the privateers of Pettipaug, known today as the British Raid on Essex. During the height of the War of 1812, 136 Royal marines and sailors made their way up the Connecticut River from warships anchored in Long Island Sound. Guided by a well-paid American traitor the British navigated the Saybrook shoals and advanced up the river under cover of darkness. By the time it was over, the British had burned twenty-seven American vessels, including six newly built privateers. It was the largest single maritime loss of the war. Yet this story has been virtually left out of the history books—the forgotten battle of the forgotten war. This new account from author and historian Jerry Roberts is the definitive overview of this event and includes a wealth of new information drawn from recent research and archaeological finds. Lavish illustrations and detailed maps bring the battle to life.

On 26 October 1812, during the war between Britain and the United States, the frigate USS Essex set sail on the most remarkable voyage in the early history of the US navy. After rounding Cape Horn, she proceeded to systematically destroy the British South Seas whaling fleet. When news reached the Royal Navys South American station at Rio de Janeiro, HMS Phoebe was sent off in pursuit. So began one of the most extraordinary chases in naval history.In Pursuit of the Essex follows the adventures of both hunter and hunted as well as a host of colourful characters that crossed their paths. Traitorous Nantucket whalers, Chilean revolutionaries, British spies, a Peruvian viceroy and bellicose Polynesian islanders all make an appearance. The brilliant yet vainglorious Captain Porter of the Essex, his nemesis Captain James Hillyar of the Phoebe, and two young midshipmen, David Farragut and Allen Gardiner, are the principal narrators. From giant-tortoise turning expeditions on the Galapagos to the perils of rounding Cape Horn, via desperate skirmishes with spear-toting natives on the Marquesas and a defeated duellist bleeding his life out onto black, volcanic sands, the reader is immersed in the fantastical world of the British and American seamen who struggled for supremacy over the worlds oceans in the sunset years of the age of sail. Ben Hughess graphic account is a work of non-fiction, yet reads like a novel, from the opening view of the Essex preparing for her cruise on the Delaware River to the storys bloody denouement in Valparaiso Bay.