Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Naval General Service 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Lissa (John Burns.) unofficially re-impressed naming, nearly very fine £500-£700

John Burns served as an Ordinary Seaman in H.M.S. Volage as part of the British squadron which engaged a Franco-Venetian squadron off the Island of Lissa, in the Adriatic, on 13 March 1811. Captain Hoste’s squadron captured two enemy frigates, the 40-gun Bellona, the 40-gun Corona, and destroyed the 40-gun frigate Favorite. The combined loss to the British squadron amounted to 190 killed and wounded against an enemy loss of about 430. The original British force was approximately 886 seaman and marines against at least 2,500 Franco-Venetian allies with less than half their gun superiority. Four Small Naval Gold Medals were awarded for this action.

One other man with this name appears on the Admiralty Claimants’ Roll, a single clasp award for 4 November 1805. This other medal is known to exist and was sold at Spink as part of the Lee Bishop Collection in July 2009.