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Auction: 24002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 4

Naval General Service 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Syria (John Seymour.), minor edge bruise and light contact marks, otherwise good very fine, the reverse better

John Seymour was born in 1803 in Dorsetshire and attested at Salisbury at age 22. He served on a number of ships prior to the Syrian War, including on Nelson's Trafalgar flagship, the H.M.S. Victory, which had been hulked in Portsmouth in 1824, later for the duration of Seymour's participation in the Syrian War he was stationed on the 74-gun 3rd rate ship H.M.S. Benbow. Admiral Sir Robert Stopford was commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet and ordered Commodore John Charles Napier to take a squadron to Beirut in September 1840, with Benbow being a member of Napier's fleet. Napier bombarded the city and effected a landing once Stopford's ships arrived to provide support and later that month, H.M.S. Benbow together with Zebra and Carysfort engaged in an unsuccessful attack on Tortosa. The bombardment of Acre, the last Egyptian coastal stronghold, commenced 3 November 1840 and Benbow, under command of Stopford, participated in the bombardment of the southern face of Acre's fortress. Either Benbow or the steamer Gorgon fired a shell which destroyed the city's powder magazine and weakened defences, soon after which Acre surrendered and ushered in the close of the Syrian War; sold together with copied research.

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Sold for
£580

Starting price
£400