AN OUTSTANDING & VERY RARE TWO CLASP
NAVAL GENERAL SERVICE MEDAL
TRAFALGAR
JAVA
A sheer classic medal to a Boy 3rd class.
A Marine Society 13 year old orphan boy sailor.
An officers’ servant & powder monkey.

JAMES CHAPMAN

Served under Admiral Collingwood
HMS Royal Sovereign at The Battle of Trafalgar


 [BIOGRAPHY] c, 1792-
James Chapman was born in London in about 1792 and was probably either abandoned or orphaned at a very early age. Via the assistance of The Marine Society, he entered the Royal Navy as an officer’s servant, No.14199, Boy 3rd Class, at age 13 into “Gladiator” which was apparently a naval training establishment on the River Thames.

The sad fact that the young James was indeed an orphan is underlined as his “father” (guardian?) is mentioned in our available notes as being a Mr William Taylor of 22 Prospect Road, London.

[THE MARINE SOCIETY]
*The Marine Society was founded in 1756 and it aimed to support poor children & orphans up to the age of 13 by giving them the skills needed to work on board the King's ships. The main object of the charity when founded was sending unemployed or orphaned teenagers to sea as officers' servants.

“ Notice is hereby given, that all stout lads and boys, who incline to go on board His Majesty’s Ships, with a view to learn the duty of a seaman, and are, upon examination, approved by the Marine Society, shall be handsomely clothed and provided with bedding, and their charges born down to the ports where His Majesty’s Ships lye, with all other proper encouragement."

During combat actions, many of these young lads were added to and served with the gun crews as powder monkeys who retrieved the black gunpowder charges from the lower magazines and brought them up to the crews on the gun decks.

It was intended and hoped that the boys would then extend their time of service on HM ships to keep them out of trouble if discharged immediately after war service.

These are exactly the roles and expectations that The Marine Society succeeded in fulfilling for the young James Chapman who clearly extended his RN service and subsequently served in HMS BELLEROFON and later as an Ordinary Seaman in H.M.S. Nisus during the assistance given by the Royal Navy in the capture of the island of Java, July to 18 September 1811.

Further research may well yield an even more interesting picture.

Young James is first seen serving at sea in H.M.S. Royal Sovereign during the major fleet action off Cape Trafalgar between the British fleet under the command of Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson and the Franco-Spanish fleet under the command of Vice-Admiral P.C. de Villeneuve on 21 October 1805.

H.M.S. Royal Sovereign (100) Vice Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, was the lead ship at the head of the lee column at Trafalgar....and during the fierce fighting during the battle there was no ship which covered herself with greater distinction & glory than her.

For a time she was engaged in single-handed struggle with several of the enemy’s ships, before tackling Admiral Alava’s flag ship, the Santa-Ana, which at the time was the biggest warship in the world.

Her losses on this occasion amounted to 144 dead with 14 officers killed and wounded. Her own injuries were also very severe with her main and mizen masts and fore-topsail-yard being shot away, her fore-mast shot in several places and stripped of nearly the whole of its rigging, she was left in a tottering state.

By the time the Spanish three-decker Santa-Ana struck to her, the Royal Sovereign was almost unmanageable; and at 6:00 p.m. Admiral Collingwood, who had succeeded the dead hero Lord Nelson as Commander-in-Chief, was compelled to shift his flag into HMS Euryalus, a frigate, by which, and afterwards by HMS Neptune, she was taken in tow.

[SUMMARY]
Medals with Trafalgar clasps have always been regarded as the cream of the crop in the field of NGS collecting. This two clasp medal is no exception to the rule and to have the Trafalgar clasp combined with a second clasp for Java raises this example to a state of even greater desirability.

Also, the early history of this medal’s recipient, James Chapman, makes for emotional reading when one considers just how very young many of these poor young lads were when they were taken to sea and thrust into battle in the wooden battleships of Nelson’s navy.

As with so many thousands of men, James Chapman who is still seen serving in Java in 1811, probably left the navy some time shortly after the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815 at which time he would still have been only 23. He claimed his medal in c, 1848 at the age of about 56.

With Much Further Research Potential.

With Impeccable Provenance
Glendining’s, March 1929.
Spink, December 1985.

A Greatly Outstanding & Desirable Medal in superb EF with some small areas of very old lacquer

SOLD