Naval Medals from the Collection of the Late Jason Pilalas (Part I)

A Civil C.B. and Naval campaign group of four awarded to Captain H. A. Moriarty, R.N., who was decorated for his part in the laying of the Trans-Atlantic cables; he was later Master Attendant and Queen’s Harbour-Master at Portsmouth

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, C.B. (Civil) Companion’s 18 carat gold breast badge, hallmarked London 1859, fitted with gilt ribbon buckle; Naval General Service 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Syria (Henry A. Moriarty, 2nd Master); Baltic 1854-55, unnamed as issued; St. Jean d’Acre 1840, silver, unnamed and fitted with straight bar suspension and plain-faced clasp, the last three with contemporary silver four-prong ribbon buckles, nearly extremely fine (4) £3,000-£4,000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Naval Medals from the Collection of the Late Jason Pilalas.

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Henry Augustus Moriarty was born on 19 May 1815, and entered the Navy in December 1829 on board the North Star frigate. He became 2nd Master in 1837 and served in that capacity aboard the Ganges 84 on the coast of Syria in 1840, receiving the English and Turkish medals. He was promoted to Master in 1844, and in 1848 had command of a paddle-box boat in an expedition to destroy the slave barracoons on the river Gallinas on the west coast of Africa. In the Russian war he was Master of the Duke of Wellington, flagship of Sir Charles Napier in the Baltic. He was mentioned in despatches for surveying work done under fire, and was employed under Captain Sullivan in placing the mortar vessels preparatory to the bombardment of Sveaborg on 9 August 1855.

In 1857 & 58 he was appointed to navigate the line-of-battle ship Agamemnon, lent by the Admiralty to lay the first Atlantic telegraph cable. In June 1863 he was promoted to Staff Commander, and in August was appointed to the Marlborough, of 121 guns, flagship in the Mediterranean. He navigated the Great Eastern in 1865 & 66 when she was employed in laying the second and third transatlantic cables; and when the cable broke in mid ocean in 1865, he fixed the position so accurately as to ensure the subsequent recovery of the broken end. When the Great Eastern had hooked the lost cable and was heaving it up to her bows, the mark-buoy placed by Moriarty was bumping against the ship’s side. He was in 1866 awarded the C.B. for this success and received a valuable testimonial from his brother officers. In December 1867 he was appointed to Portsmouth dockyard, becoming Master Attendant and Queen’s Harbour-Master in November 1869, which position he held until the end of 1874 when he was retired with the rank of Captain.

After his retirement he was occasionally employed as nautical assessor to the judicial committee of the Privy Council, and frequently as nautical expert before parliamentary committees, among which those on Barry Docks, the Tay Bridge, the Forth Bridge, and the Tower Bridge may be mentioned.

He was the author of several works on navigation and seamanship, chief among which was four volumes of sailing directions (1887-93) compiled for the Admiralty. Moriarty died at Lee, Kent, on 18 August 1906, and was buried in the cemetery there.