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Auction: 9022 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Militaria
Lot: 519

x Naval General Service 1793-1840, two clasps, Trafalgar, 14 Dec Boat Service 1814 (Robert Govis.), small area of erasure before ´R´, extremely fine Estimate £ 6,000-8,000 Robert Govis served as Landsman in H.M.S. Royal Sovereign (Flag ship of Vice-Admiral and Second in Command C. Collingwood) 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 Royal Sovereign ´´led the lee column at Trafalgar... In the actual fighting there was no ship which covered herself with greater distinction. For a time she was engaged single-handed with several of the enemy´´s ships, before tackling Alava´´s flagship, the Santa-Ana. Her losses on this occasion amounted to 144, including 14 officers killed and wounded. Her injuries were very severe. Her main and mizen masts and fore-topsail-yard were shot away, and her fore-mast, having been shot in several places and stripped of nearly the whole of its rigging, was left in a tottering state. By the time the Spanish three-decker Santa-Ana struck to her, the Royal Sovereign was almost unmanageable; and at 6pm Admiral Collingwood, who had succeeded the dead hero as Commander-in-Chief, was compelled to shift his flag into the Euryalus, frigate, by which, and afterwards by the Neptune, she was taken in tow.´´ (The Trafalgar Roll, The Officers, The Men, The Ships, Colonel R.H. Mackenzie, refers). Govis later served as Ordinary Seaman in H.M.S. Royal Oak and was present in the boats commanded by Commanders Lockyer, Montrenor and Roberts who were tasked with an attack on an American force of 5 gunboats, a sloop and a schooner, 14.12.1814. This attack was to take place on Lake Borgne in preparation for clearing the way for a direct assault on New Orleans. On the 12th at 9.30am, arriving within longshot of the enemy, Commander Lockyer and his men, after a 36-mile pull against a strong current all the way, stopped for breakfast. At 10.30am they took to their oars again, with the tide running against them at three miles an hour, and moved forward into a hail of round and grape shot. Almost at noon, Commander Lockyer´´s boat, being foremost, got alongside the gunboat with the Commodore´´s pennant and a desperate fight ensued in which nearly all the assailants were either killed or wounded. Commander Lockyer was among the latter, but the remnant gained the American´´s deck and, being well supported by other boats, the vessel was soon taken. The guns of the captured gunboat were turned on the remaining four and, with the boats of the second and third divisions arriving in quick succession, the whole American force was taken in five minutes. One of the most daring naval feats on record was not without loss, mostly sustained from the galling fire on the boats when advancing to the attack against a heavy current - 17 killed and 67 wounded, three mortally. This was the last and indeed the largest Boat Action for which the Naval General Service 1793-1840 medal was granted. Provenance: Gaskell Collection 1911

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