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Auction: 8016 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Militaria
Lot: 43

Naval General Service 1793-1840, one clasp, St Vincent (John Hiatt, Midshipman.), good very fine Estimate £ 2,500-3,000 John Hiatt served as Midshipman in H.M.S. Namur at the defeat of the Spanish fleet off Cape St. Vincent, 14.2.1797. Commander John Hiatt, born Portsea, 1784; joined the Royal Navy as First Class Volunteer, 24.3.1795, and was posted for service in H.M.S. Namur (Captain Whitshed); after serving as Midshipman in the action off Cape St. Vincent, and for some time at the blockade of Cadiz, he rejoined his former Captain, then Rear Admiral Whitshed, July 1799, for service in H.M.S. Barfleur; later the same year he again followed Whitshed into the Temeraire, flag-ship subsequently of Rear Admiral George Campbell, with whom he served on the Channel and Irish stations until March 1802; whilst trying to suppress a mutiny on the 29th May, Hiatt was thrown down from the fore cockpit, as a reward for his general services he was promoted to a Lieutenancy in the Theseus (Captain John Bligh); Hiatt was stationed in the West Indies with the commencement of hostilities with France; he was soon in action - in command of the boats of the Theseus and the Tartar he cut out from the port of Jeremie, St. Domingo, and seized three ships, two brigs, and 11 schooners, for which he recieved thanks in the general orders of the Commander-in-Chief; he also assisted at the capture of Le Duquesne (74 guns) and of La Creole (44 guns), with the French General Morgan and 530 troops on board; he was present at the reduction of Port Dauphin, where two forts and La Sagesse (28 guns) were captured; Hiatt was present at the capture of a French squadron which had the remains of General Rochambeau´´s army from Cape Francois on board; he also took part in the unsuccessful attack upon Curacoa; appointed for service in H.M.S. Fortunee (Captain Henry Vansittart), 8.4.1804, from which vessel he succeeded in commanding the boats during the capture of several privateers; appointed to the Reindeer (Captain John Fyffe), 16.6.1805; whilst serving in the latter he participated in a single-handed and very gallant action of many hours with the French corvettes Phaeton and Voltigeur, 24.6.1806; he was appointed to the command of the tender Ladronne; whilst conveying dispatches from Curacoa to Jamaica she met with a large French Privateer, 28.10.1806, and after a running battle of four and half hours Hiatt´´s tender was boarded and taken; she was carried into Santiago de Cuba where she sank; further appointments included to the Sea Fencibles at Poole, Dorset, 8.3.1808, and to the Experiment (Captain James Slade) on the Falmouth Station, 18.10.1810; Hiatt´´s last command was of the Signal-Station near Mount Edgecombe, from July 1811; he retired as Commander, 1834.

Sold for
£6,500