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Auction: 22003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 4

(x) Naval General Service 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Trafalgar (Thomas Whittle.), good very fine

Provenance:
Whalley Collection, 1877.
Sotheby's, April 1981.

There are three men by the name of Thomas Whittle on the published Medal Roll: two with single-clasp medals for 'Syria' and one single-clasp medal for 'Trafalgar'.

Thomas Whittle, of Waterford in Ireland and aged 24, served as an Ordinary Seaman on board the 74-gun H.M.S. Belleisle (Captain William Hargood) at the Battle of Trafalgar. Second ship in Vice-Admiral Collingwood's Lee Column (and consequently just behind Collingwood's own Royal Sovereign), Hargood manoeuvred Belleisle between the French Fougueux and Spanish Santa Ana, firing both broadsides simultaneously to dreadful effect from a very advantageous position. Despite this early success, Belleisle attracted a lot of heavy fire in return - at times being surrounded by no less than seven ships of the Franco-Spanish fleet. Unsurprisingly she took heavy casualties (around 25% of her complement) but not before she had boarded and captured the 80-gun Argonauta. In addition to those casualties (of whom Whittle was one, suffering a wound to the head), Belleisle was the only ship of the British fleet to be completely dismasted during the action - but in testament to the bravery of Hargood and his men, they kept their flag flying and guns firing until rescued by those ships next in line. Their gallant part in this most famous sea battle was subsequently commemorated in various forms, not least by the famous naval artist William Lionel Wyllie (1851 - 1931) with his stirring painting: 'Crippled but Unconquered'.

Subject to 5% tax on Hammer Price in addition to 20% VAT on Buyer’s Premium.

Sold for
£8,000

Starting price
£4500