The John Goddard Collection of Important Naval Medals and Nelson Letters

Quarter Gunner John Matthews, who served in the boats of Bacchante in an attack by a British and Russian flotilla against Prussian troops inland from the Gulf of Riga in September 1812

Naval General Service 1793-1840, 1 clasp, 29 Sep Boat Service 1812 [25] (John Matthews.) pawnbroker’s mark on edge, otherwise very fine £2600-3000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The John Goddard Collection of Important Naval Medals and Nelson Letters.

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Provenance: Glendining’s April 1964, and March 1992.

29 Sep Boat Service 1812 [25 issued] - 8 known, including examples in the National Maritime Museum; Royal Naval Museum; Royal Marines Museum; Honeyman Collection (Huntington Library, U.S.A.); and the Patiala Collection (Sheesh Mahal Museum, India).

John Mathews is confirmed on the rolls as Quarter Gunner on board the Aboukir. He was born in London and joined the Aboukir as an Able Seaman on 1 June 1811, being advanced to Quarter Gunner from 1 May 1812. Sold with copied muster roll. Five other men with these names appear on the rolls for various clasps.

In September 1812 a flotilla of British and Russian gunboats, with the boats of Aboukir and Ranger, under Captains Hew Stuart and Jahleel Brenton, with Rear-Admiral Muller of the Russian Navy, proceeded up river from the Gulf of Riga, in the Baltic, to assist in repelling an attack by the Prussians, who were then allied to France. They met with no opposition until the 29th, when within five miles of Mittau, they found three booms placed across the river about half a mile distant from each other. Within pistol shot of the third boom, which was very strong, were three batteries of four guns each. The booms were destroyed, and as the boats came up, the enemy abandoned their works and fled, leaving behind them four twenty-four pounders. The British boats were always in advance, and the flotilla took possession of Mittau [present day Jelgava, central Latvia] the same day, where large magazines of clothing, grain, some arms and ammunition were found, with about four hundred sick and wounded of the enemy. On the evening of the 30th, after destroying the enemy’s works and a bridge, the flotilla returned having sustained no casualties.