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Auction: 20001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - conducted behind closed doors
Lot: 760

Pair: Landsman J. Farrall, Royal Navy

Naval General Service 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Syria (John Farrall.); St. Jean d'Acre 1840, bronze, unnamed as issued, the left side of clasp to first sprung, the second with replacement ring and suspension, traces of lacquer, very fine

John Farrall served as Landsman aboard Pique during operations off the coast of Syria as part of the squadron led by Cambridge. Farrall was also present during the 1840 bombardment of the city of Ancre, the British fleet being under the command of Admiral Robert Stopford. During this engagement, Pique was assigned to the far northern end of the line, north north-east of the much larger Waterloo and at a greater distance from the city than the rest of Stopford's fleet (Between Shoal and Wall: The Naval Bombardment of Akko, 1840, by Yaacov Kahanov, refers). Despite this unfavourable position, accurate gunnery enabled Pique to score several hits on the city. In 2012, renovation works to the city wall uncovered three cannonballs believed fired by Pique, the shots having struck within three metres of each other and embedded in the wall at depths of up to 65 centimetres.

A wooden fifth-rate sailing frigate of the Royal Navy, the 1633 ton, 36-gun Pique was launched on 21 July 1834 at Devonport. Aside from her exploits in the eastern Mediterranean, Pique witnessed service in North America and the West Indies and had a close-call in September 1835 under Captain the Honourable H. J. Rous, when running ashore in the Strait of Belle Isle, off eastern Canada. Re-floated, and in a remarkable display of ingenuity and seamanship, the Pique spent a month crossing the Atlantic rudderless and slowly taking on water, before arriving in Portsmouth where a large rock - which had plugged the hole in her hull - was removed. This stone remains on display today in the Porter's Garden, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.

For further details, please see:

http://www.memorialsinportsmouth.co.uk/dockyard/pique.htm


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Sold for
£600

Starting price
£320