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Auction: 9022 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Militaria
Lot: 518

x Naval General Service 1793-1840, one clasp, Trafalgar (Mark Anthony, Midshipman.), nearly extremely fine Estimate £ 7,000-9,000 Mark Anthony served as Midshipman in H.M.S. Naiad for the major fleet action off Cape Trafalgar between the British fleet under the command of Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson and the Franco-Spanish fleet under the command of Vice-Admiral P.C. de Villeneuve, 21.10.1805. The Naiad acted ´´with the Euryalus, Phoebe and Sirius as the "eyes of the fleet" she did much to bring the hostile fleets together..... H.M.S. Naiad was present to the windward of the weather column and rendered valuable help in rescuing officers and men from disabled ships , and towed the Belleisle out of action when she became unmanageable.´´ (The Trafalgar Roll, The Officers, The Men, The Ships, Colonel R.H. Mackenzie, refers). Three Large Naval Gold Medals and twenty-seven Small Naval Gold Medals were awarded for Trafalgar. Commander Mark Anthony (1784-1869), born Waterford, Ireland; joined the Royal Navy as Midshipman, July 1801, and was appointed to H.M.S. Hunter; he served ´´in the boats of that vessel when they sustained a loss of fifteen men killed in an ineffectual attempt made, towards the close of 1803, to bring out several armed merchantmen fastened in a secure manner to the beach in a small harbour, on the west side of the island of Cuba´´ (O´´Byrne refers); appointed to H.M.S. Clorinde before joining H.M.S. Naiad, September 1804, ´´one of Lord Nelson´´s repeaters in the action off Trafalgar, 21 Oct. 1805, on which occasion he assisted in towing the Belleisle from her perilous position near the shoals, and had the good fortune to rescue, in a boat, 56 of the officers and crew of the French ship Achille before she blew up. The Naiad who had previously effected a very gallant escape from a powerful French squadron, appears to have been also much engaged with Spanish gun-boats and batteries´´ (Ibid); served in H.M.S. Theseus before being promoted Lieutenant, April 1808, in which rank he was appointed to the Fury (Captain J.S. Gibson) on the Baltic Station; whilst serving with her he received a severe injury in the thigh by the recoiling of a gun, which he was in the act of pointing at a Danish gun-boat; on removing with Captain Gibson to the Sarpen he accompanied as First-Lieutenant of that sloop, the expedition to the Walcheren, and did good service on several of the transports; appointed to H.M.S. Stately (Captain E.S. Dickson), April 1811, and was employed on boat-duty at the defence of Cadiz and Tarifa until November when he was compelled to invalid owing to a fracture of the leg and dislocation of the ankle-joint; further service included in H.M. Ships the Orestes and Queen Charlotte before taking the appointed as Harbour-Master of Dunmore East; retired Commander 1848, and became an "In Pensioner" in Greenwich Hospital the same year.

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£9,000