War Medals and Their HistorySteward, William Augustus
History
War Medals and Their History
Steward, William Augustus
Great Britain. Army -- Medals, badges, decorations, etc.; Great Britain. Royal Navy -- Medals, badges, decorations, etc.
Only 2 French ships-of-war and 2 frigates escaped. The flagship and
the "Arteruise" had blown up, 2 were aground, a frigate had been sunk
when Rear-Admiral Villeneuve endeavoured to get away with the badly
damaged "Tonnant" and 3 others. Of these the "Timeleon" grounded, and
after her crew had got ashore, her captain burnt her; the "Tonnant"
was captured; and only the "Guillaume Tell" and the "Genereux," which
had hardly taken any part in the conflict, escaped with the frigates
"Justice" and "Diane." Not a British vessel went down, but all showed
severe evidence of the fight that had been waged on that August day
in 1798. The victory was due not only to the excellent seamanship of
Nelson, who was raised to the peerage as Baron Nelson of the Nile,
and of Burnham Thorpe, for what Lord St. Vincent described as "the
greatest achievement the history of the world can produce," but to the
superb gunnery of his men, who served their guns with such rapidity and
precision that their opponents were absolutely outclassed.
The ships engaged in the battle were the "Vanguard," "Bellerophon,"
"Orion," "Audacious," "Culloden," "Defiance," "Zealous," "Minotaur,"
"Goliath," "Alexander," "Majestic," "Leander," "Theseus," "Swiftsure,"
and the sloop "Mutine."
=Davison's Medal for the Nile.=--As a souvenir of this historic
sea-fight Mr. Alexander Davison, Lord Nelson's prize agent, presented
to every officer and seaman of Nelson's fleet a medal; gold to
captains and lieutenants, silver to warrant officers, bronze gilt
to petty officers, bronze to seamen and marines. The medal, which is
1¹⁷⁄₂₀ in. in diameter, is illustrated facing page 288. Upon the edge
is impressed FROM ALEXANDER DAVISON ESQ., ST. JAMES SQUARE, A TRIBUTE
OF REGARD. The medals were issued unnamed, but many had their names and
the name of their ship also engraved above the sky-line on the reverse.
The medals, modelled by C. H. Kuchler, were highly prized by all who
received them, from Nelson--who wrote very gratefully to Davison--to
the seamen, many of whom had the medals mounted in gold or silver
frames and wore them suspended from a broad blue ribbon. This is the
first instance of a medal given by a private individual being accepted
and worn in the Service.
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