14
HISTORY OF
[QUEEN ANNE.—GEORGE II.
the flag of Vice-Admiral Hobson, having broken the enemy’s boom, was grappledby a fire ship, set in flames, and so seriously damaged, that about one hundredof her crew were burnt or drowned. In this emergency Henry Gilbert, themaster, Elisha Dann, the boatswain, and Benjamin Bryer, the gunner of the“ Torbay,” distinguished themselves so conspicuously, that they were severallypresented with a gold Medal and Chain. 9
Rear-Admiral Dilkes, having performed a gallant achievement in capturingseveral French vessels under the batteries near Granville in Normandy, in July1703, it is said that the Queen “ ordered Gold Medals to be struck on theoccasion, and delivered to the Rear-Admiral and all his Officers, who certainlyhad very well deserved them.” * 1
The notices of Honorary Medals from the accession of the House ofGuelph, until the Battle of Ushant in June 1794, are few and imperfect.In June 1743, “ Captain Smith Callis, of the Duke fire-ship, was promoted toPost rank, and His Majesty ordered him a gold Chain and Medal for havingburnt five Spanish Gallies in a French port.” 2 Captain Callis’s Medal has, onone side, the effigies of King George the Second, as a Roman Emperor with abaton in his left, and the Medal and Chain in his right hand, and of CaptainCallis, kneeling to receive them, with the same words as occur on the NavalMedal of King Charles the Second before mentioned, 3 pro talibus ausis.On the reverse, is a representation of the exploit it commemorates; and the
9 This fact appears from a Letter among the records of the Admiralty, dated Admiralty Office,15th of March 1702-3, desiring that a Bill might be signed, on the Treasurer of the Navy, “ for paying£240 to Isaac Newton, Esq. Master of the Mint, for enabling him to provide two Medals and twoChains, one for Henry Gilbert the Master, and the other for Elisha Dann the Boatswain, of the Torbay,in the like manner as he has been directed to do for Benjamin Bryer, Gunner of the said Ship, as areward to them for their good service in extinguishing the fire on board the Torbay at Vigo, when theCaptain of her was blown overboard; the said Bill to be paid out of money received by the Treasurer ofthe Navy, for the Tenths of Prizes appointed by a late Act of Parliament, for Medals and other rewardsfor Officers, Marines, and Seamen in Her Majesty’s service.”
1 Campbell’s Lives of the Admirals, vol. III. p. 376, and “Naval Chronicle,” vol. IV. p.469;but no notice of those Medals occurs in “ the Metallick History of the Reigns of William III. andQueen Mary, Queen Anne, and King George I.”
2 Records in the Admiralty Office. Charnock’s Biographia Navalis, Vol. IV. p. 300, and Vol. V.p. 136, where it appears that Captain Callis became a Flag Officer, and died at Bath, in October1761. By an Order in Council on the 16th of December 1742, Lieutenant Green, of the Duke fire-ship, was awarded £50, for burning some Spanish Gallies at St. Tropez, and the like reward wasestablished in behalf of other Lieutenants of fire-ships for the future. Records in the Admiralty Office.
3 Vide p. 11, antea.