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

Five: Commander J. O. Freeland, Royal Navy, who was wounded in action in Syria in 1840

Naval General Service 1793-1840, 2 clasps, Navarino, Syria (John O. Freeland, Lieut. R.N.); Baltic 1854-55, unnamed as issued; Crimea 1854-56, no clasp, unnamed as issued; St Jean D’Acre 1840, silver, unnamed, pierced with ring and fitted with additional bar suspension; Turkish Crimea, British issue, unnamed, pierced with ring and fitted with additional bar suspension, mounted for display, very fine and better (5) £2,400-£2,800

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

View
Collection

Alan Hall Collection, June 2000.

John Osmond Freeland entered the Royal Navy on 3 July 1825, and served his time as Volunteer and Midshipman on the Lisbon, Mediterranean, Home, North America and West India Stations, in the Albion 74, Captain John Acworth Ommanney; Victory 104, Captain Hon. George Elliot; and Rose 18, Captains Eaton Travers, John George Dewar, Arthur Wakefield and Edward Williams Pilkington. In the Albion he was present at the occupation of Lisbon by the British, and at the battle of Navarino in October 1827.

Freeland, who passed his examination in seamanship on 28 September 1831, and with credit at the R.N. College on 9 October 1832, continued to serve in the Rose under Captain John Talbot Warren, as Mate, until August in the latter year, after which he was employed for nearly five years in the same capacity in the Mediterranean and on the coast of Portugal, on board the Endymion 50, Captain Samuel Roberts, Caledonia 120, flag ship of Sir Josias Rowley, Volcano, Commander William Mcllwaine, and Donegal 78, bearing the flag of Rear Admiral J .A. Ommanney, his former Captain in the Albion.

On the occasion of the coronation of Her Majesty, Freeland was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant by commission on 28 June 1838. In the course of 1839 he served on the South American Station (on which passage he was made prize master of a slaver) in the Electra 18, Captains William Preston and E. R. P. Mainwaring, Fly 18, Captain Graveille Gower Loch, and Imogene 28, Captain Henry William Bruce. In 1840 he was present at the capture of Sidon and at the bombardment of St Jean D'Acre on board the Stromboli, Captain Woodford John Williams, and, whilst in temporary command of this frigate, he took despatches from Alexandria to the senior officer on the coast of Syria. In the attack upon St Jean D'Acre, Lieutenant Freeland received an injury from gunpowder in his left cheek, the result of which was a tumour, then a malignant ulcer, and some years afterwards, a painful operation which was needed to save his life.

In April 1841 Freeland exchanged from the Stromboli into the flag ship of the Hon. Sir Robert Stopford. He removed immediately afterwards as First Lieutenant to the Beacon 8, Captain Thomas Graves, under whom he was employed for nearly four years in surveying the coast of Greece, the Grecian Archipelago, the shores of Asia Minor, and the Gulf of Smyrna. Twice during that period he had personal charge of the ship for several months, in the absence of his Captain on Admiralty leave and on detached service. He also had command of a party employed on shore in excavating the Xanthian Marbles, now in the British Museum. On leaving the Beacon in March 1845, Lieutenant Freeland received a letter of thanks for his general services from Captain Graves.

His subsequent appointments were 10 May 1845, to the Coast Guard on the coast of Sussex; 11 January 1848, as Senior Lieutenant to the Ocean 80, flagship of Sir Edward Durnford King and Hon. George Elliot, at the Nore, where he served for three and a half years as First Lieutenant; 1 September 1852, to the command of the Mercury cutter (tender to the Dasher), for the protection of the Channel Island fisheries; 7 March 1854, again as First, to the Prince Regent 90, Captain Henry Smith, one of the Baltic fleet during the campaign of the same year, and in the following December in a similar capacity to the Exmouth 90, Captain Hon. Frederick Pelham, fitting at Devonport; and 7 February 185,5 to the command of the Oberon, of 3 guns and 200 hp. In the Oberon Lieutenant Freeland sailed for the Mediterranean and Black Sea where he rendered assistance in the ensuing April to the Weser gun vessel which had caught fire, struck a rock, and been beached near the Dardanelles. For his services in Prince Regent and Oberon Freeland received the Baltic and Crimean War Medals, the latter without clasp. He was advanced to Commander on 26 May 1856 and shortly afterwards was placed on the Reserved List. He died on 26 January 1875.