Lot Essay
Ex Whittaker Collection, 1890.
The published Naval General Service Medal rolls confirm Robert Ross as an Able Seaman aboard the Galatea for the action off Tamatave on 20.5.1811, one of just 79 recipients of this clasp on the Admiralty roll. Three other men with these names are on the roll, two being awarded Medals with single 'Trafalgar' clasps and the third a single 'Copenhagen 1801' clasp.
'After being sighted and chased by an inferior British Squadron, Commodore Roquebert arrived, on 19 May [1811], off Tamatave, on the eastern coast of Madagasgar, which, having only a small garrison of 100 soldiers, was easily recaptured, it having only been wrested from the French three months before. At daybreak on the 20th, the British Squadron that had previously chased the enemy, consisting of the 36-gun Frigates Phoebe, Captain Hillyar, and Galatea, Captain Losack, and 18-gun Brig Racehorse, Captain De Rippe, reinforced by the Astraea, 38, Captain Schomberg, came in sight of the French Frigates, and at four o'clock in the afternoon the leading ship, the Astraea, opened fire on the Renommee. A general action now ensued, and the Galatea suffered severely, being raked by the Clorinde under her stern, and the Renommee on her starboard quarter, while, owing to the dead calm caused by the concussion of firing, she was unable to bring her broadside to bear on her enemies. In this condition she lost her fore and mizen-topmasts, and most of her remaining spars and rigging were so cut up that she was rendered unserviceable. The Phoebe and Astraea meanwhile became engaged with the Nereide. A little before eight, the enemy made sail, and were chased by the British Squadron, with the exception of the Galatea. The Renommee struck at 10 p.m. and the Nereide was subsequently captured at Tamatave, but the Clorinde effected her escape. In this action ... the Galatea, which, in addition to her injuries aloft, had fifty-five shot-holes in her hull and four feet of water in her hold, lost 14 killed, two mortally, 19 severely (including her Captain, First Lieutenant, Marine Officer and two Midshipmen), and 27 men slightly, wounded' (Great Battles of the British Navy, by Lieutenant C.R. Low, R.N., refers).
The published Naval General Service Medal rolls confirm Robert Ross as an Able Seaman aboard the Galatea for the action off Tamatave on 20.5.1811, one of just 79 recipients of this clasp on the Admiralty roll. Three other men with these names are on the roll, two being awarded Medals with single 'Trafalgar' clasps and the third a single 'Copenhagen 1801' clasp.
'After being sighted and chased by an inferior British Squadron, Commodore Roquebert arrived, on 19 May [1811], off Tamatave, on the eastern coast of Madagasgar, which, having only a small garrison of 100 soldiers, was easily recaptured, it having only been wrested from the French three months before. At daybreak on the 20th, the British Squadron that had previously chased the enemy, consisting of the 36-gun Frigates Phoebe, Captain Hillyar, and Galatea, Captain Losack, and 18-gun Brig Racehorse, Captain De Rippe, reinforced by the Astraea, 38, Captain Schomberg, came in sight of the French Frigates, and at four o'clock in the afternoon the leading ship, the Astraea, opened fire on the Renommee. A general action now ensued, and the Galatea suffered severely, being raked by the Clorinde under her stern, and the Renommee on her starboard quarter, while, owing to the dead calm caused by the concussion of firing, she was unable to bring her broadside to bear on her enemies. In this condition she lost her fore and mizen-topmasts, and most of her remaining spars and rigging were so cut up that she was rendered unserviceable. The Phoebe and Astraea meanwhile became engaged with the Nereide. A little before eight, the enemy made sail, and were chased by the British Squadron, with the exception of the Galatea. The Renommee struck at 10 p.m. and the Nereide was subsequently captured at Tamatave, but the Clorinde effected her escape. In this action ... the Galatea, which, in addition to her injuries aloft, had fifty-five shot-holes in her hull and four feet of water in her hold, lost 14 killed, two mortally, 19 severely (including her Captain, First Lieutenant, Marine Officer and two Midshipmen), and 27 men slightly, wounded' (Great Battles of the British Navy, by Lieutenant C.R. Low, R.N., refers).