SINGLE CAMPAIGN MEDALS x176


The rare Naval General Service Medal for Navarino awarded to Able Seaman J. Birt, an impressed ex-Smuggler


NAVAL GENERAL SERVICE 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Navarino (James Birt) minor edge nicks otherwise nearly extremely fine and rare to a confirmed Smuggler


£2200-2600 Provenance: Spink, February 1951; Dix Noonan Webb, February 1998.


James Birt was born in Bexhill and was an impressed ex-Smuggler who, having completed his five years’ penal sentence in foreign waters, opted to remain in the Royal Navy and served as an Able Seaman in H.M.S. Asia at the battle of Navarino, in which the combined fleets of Britain, France and Russia engaged and routed the Turkish fleet on 20 October 1827. The morning after the battle Admiral Sir Edward Codrington described the state of the Turkish fleet as such, ‘Out of a fleet composed of eighty-one-men-of-war, only one frigate and fifteen smaller vessels are in a state to ever put to sea again.’


One of only 7 Naval General Service Medals with clasp Navarino awarded to impressed ex-Smugglers (Naval Medal 1793-1856 by K. J. Douglas-Morris refers).


177


NAVAL GENERAL SERVICE 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Navarino (John Potts.) minor edge nicks, otherwise good very fine


£1200-1400


Provenance: First recorded at Spink in 1897 (sold for £2 5s); Dix Noonan Webb, September 2008.


John Potts was born in Ryde, Isle of Wight, in 1809, and joined the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class in H.M.S. Victory on 27 August 1824. He transferred to H.M. S. Rose on 7 December of that year, and served in her as a Boy 1st Class during the battle of Navarino in which the combined fleets of Britain, France and Russia engaged and routed the Turkish fleet on 20 October 1827. The morning after the battle Admiral Sir Edward Codrington described the state of the Turkish fleet as such, ‘Out of a fleet composed of eighty-one-men-of-war, only one frigate and fifteen smaller vessels are in a state to ever put to sea again.’


Potts remained in the Rose until 18 March 1828, and subsequently joined H.M.S. St. Vincent as an Ordinary Seaman in May 1831, serving in her for three years. He next joined H.M.S. Vanguard as an Able Seaman in March 1836, becoming her Captain’s Coxswain on 1 November of that year, before moving to H.M.S. Pembroke in March 1837, and being advanced to Quartermaster in May 1838. He subsequently served in Portsmouth, first in H.M.S. Victory as Quartermaster and later Boatswain’s Mate, and then spent two years as a Seaman Rigger in Portsmouth Dockyard before going to H.M.S. Duke of Wellington as a Quartermaster in April 1853. He was transferred to the Pensioners’ List on 22 May 1856, but subsequently spent three years as a Labourer in Portsmouth Dockyard before spending over a year, from 14 September 1860 to 30 November 1861, as a Seaman Pensioner in H.M.S. Asia. Sold with full research.


x178


NAVALGENERAL SERVICE 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Navarino (John Melling.) edge bruising and contact marks, otherwise nearly very fine


£800-1200 Provenance: Glendining, May 1903.


John Melling served as a Private, Royal Marines, in H.M.S. Genoa during the battle of Navarino in which the combined fleets of Britain, France and Russia engaged and routed the Turkish fleet, 20 October 1827. The morning after the battle Admiral Sir Edward Codrington described the state of the Turkish fleet as such, ‘Out of a fleet composed of eighty-one men-of-war, only one frigate and fifteen smaller vessels are in a state to ever to put to sea again.’


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