A Collection of Naval General Service Medals 1793-1840

The rare 2-clasp Naval General Service Medal awarded to Carpenter Archibald Gray, who was on board the Arrow sloop on the occasion of her formidable defence, with the Acheron bomb-ship, of a convoy of 34 merchant vessels against two greatly superior French frigates on 3 February 1805; despite both Arrow and Acheron having to strike their colours after nearly five hours action, their noble defence allowed 31 sail of the convoy to escape capture - both the Commanders were promoted to Post-rank and the Patriotic Fund presented each with a sword of one hundred guineas

Naval General Service 1793-1840, 2 clasps, St. Vincent, Arrow 3 Feby 1805 (A. Gray, Carpenter.) quite polished and worn, otherwise good fine and very rare £14,000-£18,000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Naval General Service Medals 1793-1840.

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Provenance: Spink, July 2000.

Only 8 clasps issued for ‘Arrow 3 Feby 1800’, of which the only other known surviving example is held by the National Maritime Museum.

Archibald Gray is confirmed on the rolls as a Caulker’s Mate aboard H.M.S. Barfleur at the battle of St Vincent, and as a Carpenter aboard H.M.S. Arrow on the occasion of her gallant defence, with H.M.S. Acheron, of a convoy of 34 merchant ships against two greatly superior French frigates.

On 3 February 1805, at daylight, near Cape Caxine, the British sloop Arrow, 28, Captain R. B. Vincent, and the bomb-ship Acheron, 8, Captain A. Farquhar, in charge of a convoy of thirty-four merchant vessels from Malta to England, fell in with the French frigates Hortense, 40, and Incorruptible, 38. Signalling the convoy to disperse and make all sail to the appointed rendezvous, the two British ships placed themselves between their charge and the enemy. Before daylight the next morning, the frigates commenced an intermittent action with their opponents, which lasted nearly five hours, when the British ships, their sails and rigging cut to pieces, and their hulls much shattered, hauled down their colours and surrendered. The Arrow, which had received many shot between wind and water, and four of her guns dismounted , sank directly after her capture, almost before her surviving crew had been removed, and the Acheron was so much damaged that her captors set her on fire. The Arrow, out of her complement of one hundred and thirty-two men and boys, had thirteen men killed, and twenty-seven wounded, the Acheron, with a crew of sixty-seven, had three men killed, and eight wounded. By the noble defence of the British vessels, thirty-one sail of the convoy escaped capture.

Captain Vincent and the crew of the Arrow were detained prisoners at Carthagena, as were those of the Acheron, for about three months, when they were allowed to embark in a cartel brig sent by Lord Nelson. In a subsequent Court Martial held at Portsmouth on 7 June 1805, both Captains Vincent and Farquhar were ‘most honourably acquitted’, being both advanced to post commissions and each presented with a sword of one hundred guineas value by the Patriotic Fund.

Appended to Carpenter Gray’s record of service is a manuscript note signed by Captain Vincent, at Carthagena on 13 February 1805, which states: ‘These are to certify that the Honourable Commissioners of His Majesty’s Navy, that, Mr Archibald Gray, Carpenter of His Majesty’s late Sloop Arrow, under my command lost all his Books, Accounts, and Papers, relative to the said Sloop on the 4th instant in consequence of the Arrow’s foundering immediately after the Action, in which she was Captured, by the French National Frigates L’Hortense & L’Incorruptible. The Officers and Crew being obliged to quit the Ship, to preserve their lives, without having time to save any of their effects, she being in the act of sinking when they quitted her. And I further certify that the last Accounts of Mr. Archibald Gray were made up to the 20th day of December 1804 and sent to England from Malta in His Majesty's Ship Thisbe, directed to his Agents, Messrs. Cook and Halford of London - and that owing to the ship being under Sailing Orders for England, from the 6th day of November last, he did not call a survey and that all his Books, Accounts and Papers since the above prior were in his own possession at the time the ship was captured'.