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Auction: 25002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 4

The Naval General Service Medal awarded to Able Seaman T. Gabriel, Royal Navy, who whilst aboard H.M.S. Malabar helped to rescue American seamen from the burning hulk of U.S.S. Missouri off the coast of Gibraltar in 1843, and later with H.M.S. Daedalus participated in anti-piracy operations in the China Station

Naval General Service 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Syria (Thomas Gabriel.), minor edge bruising, very fine

Provenance:
Ex. Coolidge Hills collection.
Morton & Eden, October 2006.

His is a unique name upon the published rolls.

Thomas Gabriel was born on 4 January 1817 to Edward and Jemimah Gabriel and was one of seven children. He grew up at St. Anthony, Torpoint in Cornwall where he joined the Royal Navy on 22 May 1834 at the age of seventeen, being rated Boy 1st Class. He served for the first four years of his service aboard H.M.S. Portland, followed by a brief period with Impregnable from 12 May 1838 with whom he was rated Ordinary Seaman, before joining H.M.S. Revenge on 22 July 1839. Revenge was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line who had sailed in Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood's leeward column at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, having had been launched earlier that year.

Gabriel joined her just as she was about to embark for the Syrian coast to provide a protection escort for deployed troops. She arrived off the coast of Acre on 2 November and participated in the bombardment of the port city the very next day. After the successful capture of Acre, Revenge was tasked with transporting prisoners to Beirut. Gabriel earned his medal and clasp for this engagement and is further entitled to a St. Jean d'Acre Medal.

His next posting was aboard another 74-gun third rate ship of the line, H.M.S. Malabar, now as an Able Seaman, and with her set sail for Rio de Janeiro in June 1842 to serve for a time in the South American Station before returning to Plymouth in May 1843. A few months later, Malabar notably took part in the rescue of two hundred American sailors who were aboard the doomed steam frigate U.S.S. Missouri on the night of 26 August 1843 while off the coast of Gibraltar. Missouri, bound for Egypt, arrived at Gibraltar the previous day and whilst maintenance works were being carried out overnight a container of turpentine broke in the presence of an open lantern and quickly set the ship alight. The American vessel was carrying a great deal of powder and was primed to explode like a bomb at any moment. Other ships which were moored close by, including Malabar, sprang into action and rescued as many sailors as possible before she went up. Her wreck was salvaged in 1852, the full story of which is told in accompanying book Raising Missouri: John Gowen and the Salvage of the U.S. Steam Frigate Missouri 1843-1852 by Chuck Veit.

Gabriel was paid off of Malabar on 5 June 1844 and next joined Daedalus on 11 November, with whom he sailed for the China Station where he would be stationed for the next four years. There, Daedalus joined Admiral Sir Thomas Cochrane's squadron alongside Agincourt, Vestal, Wolverine, Cruzier and Vixen. In August 1845 the squadron proceeded to Maradu Bay at the island of Labuan, near Brunei, to attack the pirate stronghold there. The morning of 18 August the ships transported over five hundred men to launch an attack on pirate Sayarif Osman's fortified stockade, which they plundered and destroyed.

During the remainder of her time in the China Station, Daedalus guarded the island of Chusan, suffered a fever outbreak and had to return to Hong Kong, rescued two French warships that had run aground at Kokoonto Island, and participated in the blockade of Canton in January 1848 before finally returning home to Plymouth on 4 October 1848. Gabriel was next posted to H.M.S. Agincourt on 20 January 1849, which acted as a Devonport guard ship. He then served with St. George from 31 August 1850 until he was invalided from the service on 23 August 1852. He received a pension and his health must have been much deteriorated, as he died little over a year later on 3 December 1853 at the age of 36; sold together with binder of copied research and information, as well as a copy of Raising Missouri: John Gowen and the Salvage of the U.S. Steam Frigate Missouri 1843-1852 by Chuck Veit (2012).


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Estimate
£500 to £700

Starting price
£450