The Bill and Angela Strong Medal Collection

Naval General Service 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Trafalgar (Patrick Deuchar, Midshipman) old lacquer, otherwise nearly extremely fine £7000-9000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Bill and Angela Strong Medal Collection.

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Ex David Spink Collection, June 1985.

Midshipman of Swiftsure 74 at Trafalgar which had 9 killed and 8 wounded. Eight officers and 39 ratings lived to claim the medal.

Patrick Deuchar was born in Edinburgh on 24 May 1785. After an apprenticeship of four years in a merchant ship, he entered the Navy on 10 January 1804, as an Ordinary Seaman on board the Helder 36, and, on becoming Midshipman of the Swiftsure 74 in 1805, accompanied Lord Nelson to the West Indies in pursuit of the combined fleets of France and Spain, and was afterwards present, independently of many boat affairs, in the battle of Trafalgar, 21 October 1805.

When next in the Seahorse 38, he was much employed in detached operations against the Spanish gunboats and convoys off Cadiz; after which he served in the Moselle 18 at the attack on Rosetta in April 1807, and, in the following year, was employed as Master’s Mate of the Bustard 18 on the hazardous duty of landing papers on the coast of France relative to the revolution in Spain. On accompanying Sir Richard Strachan from the Venerable 74, in which ship he had the misfortune to fracture his left leg, into the St Domingo, he attended the expedition to the Walcheren in August 1809. On that occasion he commanded a strong division of boats at the landing of the troops, and actively co-operated in the bombardment of Flushing. He subsequently served on the Baltic, Jamaica, and Lisbon stations, as a passed Midshipman of the Impeteux 74, Thetis 38, and Impeteux again. From March 1813 to November 1814, during which period (on 29 November 1813) he obtained his Lieutenant’s commission, he commanded a portion of the Cadiz flotilla. He was then entrusted with the duty of laying up all the gunboats and returning their stores. Deuchar was placed on the reserved list of Lieutenants in July 1815, and on the list of retired Commanders on 15 July 1856.