COMMONWEALTH.]
HONORARY MEDALS.
7
be paid into the hands of such treasurers as the Council of State shall appointfor the profits of the Admiralty; the said tenths to be disposed by order of thesaid Council of State, for Medals or other rewards, to such officers andseamen of the fleet, as by certificate under the hand and seal of the Commis-sioners commanding the fleet at sea, or any two of them, shall be found to havedone any singular, eminent, and extraordinary service therein, and the saidCouncil of State is hereby required to take special care for the observance ofthis Act, in all points concerning the encouragement of officers, mariners, andseamen, to engage in this service, that none may be defrauded of any benefit oradvantage growing due to them by virtue of this Act.” * * * * * * 7
This Ordinance was repeated, in a similar Statute, in the following year;and the first occasion of its being carried into effect appears to have been for anaction of which there is no mention in any General or Naval History. On thenight of the 31st of July 1650, a small ship, of twenty-two guns, commandedby Captain Robert Wyard, was attacked in the North Sea by six frigates, whosaid they were from Amsterdam, 8 and on firing into him, exclaimed, “ ForKing Charles the Second, you roundheaded dogs.” The action continueduntil three o’clock on the next day, the 1st of August, when, having sufferedgreatly, the frigates permitted Captain Wyard’s ship to proceed to Yarmouth. 9To reward his gallantry, the Parliament caused a Medal to be struck, containing
of battle have attained to the dignity of the mark of honor, I carry at my breast, I am confident
that there is not many, who can shew as ample a commission of His Majesty’s of blessed memory for
the like, as I have now extant; which in this particular it hath profited me in; whereas all Noblemen
and Knights are liable to pay Poll money, I having sent my Badge, Title, and Commission, unto those
worthy Commissioners, who were intrusted in the assessment of the Poll money, they then sitting at
Hicks Hall in May 1678, they were civilly pleased to discharge me from the payment for my dignity;and that I should pay only a shilling for my Poll, signed by two of the commissioners, and sealed,whom I yet never to my knowledge did see, Sir Ed. Abney, and William Beversham, Commissioners,the 29th May 1678, so in paying a shilling I was quit.”
7 Scohell’s Acts, Edit. 1658.
8 The frigates are said to have been Irish , in “ Whitelock’s Memorials,” p. 467. They were pro-bably part of Prince Rupert’s Squadron.
9 Captain Wyard’s official report to the Council of State, printed in the forty-sixth number of the“ Several proceedings in Parliament, from the 8th to the 15th August 1650.” Captain Wyard’s letterhaving been read in Parliament, on the 9th of August 1650, it was “ ordered that it be referred to theCouncil of State, to consider what reward and recompence shall be thought fit to be given to CaptainRobert Wyard for his good service; and to the master and owner of the ship, in respect of the damagedone to the ship; and that the said Council be and are empowered and authorized to give such rewardsand allowances to them, as they shall think fit, accordingly.” Commons Journals, vol. VI. p. 454.