Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Naval General Service 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Trafalgar (Wm. Hart.) suspension neatly reaffixed, minor edge bruise and light marks overall, otherwise good very fine £3,000-£4,000

William Hart, born in Enfield, Essex, served as a Landsman aboard H.M.S. Revenge at the battle of Trafalgar. Two other men with this name are listed in the published roll: one with 3 clasps for 1 June 1794, Egypt and Trafalgar, the other for Syria.

The Revenge was heavily engaged at Trafalgar when, interlocked in combat with the French Aigle, she received a tremendous fire into her lee quarter from the Spanish Principe de Asturias, and was further hemmed in by three two-deckers, the whole combining to punish her cruelly until they were driven off by the approach of other British vessels. Her injuries in the battle were in consequence severe and her losses heavy, the latter amounting to twenty-eight killed and fifty-one wounded, including her captain, Robert Moorsom, who subsequently carried the Great Banner at Nelson’s funeral.

Sold with copied extracts from Ship’s Description Book and Muster List entry for Revenge covering the Trafalgar period.