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Auction: 8016 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Militaria
Lot: 54

Naval General Service 1793-1840, two clasps, 4 Novr. 1805, 7 July Boat Service 1809 (W.J. Purchas, Midshipman.), minor edge nicks, therefore nearly extremely fine Estimate £ 3,500-4,000 William Jardine Purchas served as Midshipman in H.M.S. Hero as part of Commodore Sir Richard Strachan´´s squadron, when he captured four French ships-of-the-line, off Ferrol on the north coast of Gallicia, Spain. 4.11.1805; Purchas served as the same appointment in H.M.S. Bellerophon where her boats, as part of a force of 17 under Lieutenant Joseph Hawkey, captured or destroyed seven gunboats and twelve merchantmen from a Russian flotilla at anchor under Hango Head, near Percola Point on the south coast of Finland, 7.7.1809. Hawkey was killed by grapeshot whilst attempting to board one of the gunboats. Approximately 34 clasps were claimed for this boat action. Captain William Jardine Purchas, born Cambridge, 1788; his brother John Purchas served as a Captain in the 20th Foot at the battle of Maida, and after commanding a company of the 76th Foot during the Peninsula War, was killed in action before Plattsburg, on Lake Champlain, U.S.A.; W.J. Purchas entered the Royal Navy as First Class Volunteer, 7.11.1803, and was posted for service in H.M.S. Hero (Captains Hon. Alan Hyde Gardner and John P. Beresford); after service in the latter on 22nd July and 4.11.1805, he was also present at the capture of the Marengo and the Belle Poule, the former bearing the flag of Admiral Linois, 13.3.1806; he removed to the Ville De Paris (flag-ship of Lord Gardner in the Channel), June 1807; posted for service in H.M.S. Bellerophon, in the North Sea, June 1808; for his conduct as Senior Midshipman during the boat service action, 7.7.1809, he was promoted (as soon as he had passed his exams), to a Lieutenancy in December of the same year, ´´Independently of the affair last mentioned, Mr. Purchas appears, during his servitude in the Bellerophon, to have acted a part in many affairs of a cutting-out description´´ (O´´Byrne refers); further appointments included in H.M.S. Erebus, Carnation, Alert and Scamander, on the Jamaica Station, in the North Sea, and the Leeward Islands; Commander 7.12.1818; served in H.M.S. Esk off the coast of Africa where he succeeded in the capturing of nine Brazilian, Dutch and Spanish vessels carrying a total of 2,249 slaves, 17.7.1825-8.2.1827; he subsequently assisted in completing the establishment at Fernando Po; conveyed stock from St. Helena to Ascension, and brought home a quantity of gold-dust and ivory, with which he arrived at Spithead, 1.5.1828; on the recomendation of his commanding officer (then Commodore Fraser Collier) Purchas was awarded a Post commission of Captain, as his ship the Esk ´´had captured more slaves than any other vessel of her class, and had invalided and lost fewer men - having only buried 4 in three years´´ (O´´Byrne refers); in later life he was Magistrate for the borough and county of Cambridge. Provenance: Christie, November 1985.

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£8,800