Sailors at
the time of Nelson were:
Badly paid
Badly fed
Pressed
ganged
Put to half
pay
Spend long
periods at sea
Died horrible
deaths of disease
Died horrible
deaths in action
Were thrown
overboard as corpses
And then
marked down as DD – DISCHARGE DEAD
Were flogged
and hanged
And if that
were not enough
They were
not awarded any medals for their efforts.
From the
first major battle with Revolutionary France to the last battle i.e., from the
GLORIOUS FIRST OF JUNE until WATERLOO [1794-1815] {Which included war with the
United States of America in 1812} only Flag Officers and Captains who were
conspicuous for their courage were awarded an OFFICIAL MEDAL, which was
called a GOLD MEDAL.
It came in
two sizes, the big one for Flag Officers and Captains-of-the-Fleet and a
smaller one for Captains of ships. Nelson won three gold medals for his many
actions. However, for fear of upsetting the Danes, the British Government
refused to issue a medal for the Battle of Copenhagen, which did upset Nelson and
his Captains.
Certain rich
men of the times paid for and issued medals to everybody else who took part in
the Battles and these were accepted to be SEMI-OFFICIAL CAMPAIGN MEDALS. One such man, Alexander Davison issued a
medal to all involved in the Battle of the Nile giving gold medals to Nelson
and his Captains, silver medals to Lieutenants and Warrant Officers, gilt
copper to Petty Officers, and copper medals to the seamen and marines. Matthew
Boulton issued the Trafalgar Medal for all seamen and marines concerned, all in
copper, reputedly issuing 14,000 specimens. This medal was also minted in
precious metals but was not issued to survivors of the Battle . Today, it is
difficult to believe that a victorious nations Government could be so mean and
indifferent to these men as to not recognised their sacrifice for the sake of
the United Kingdom, but such were the brutal and cruel times of the eighteenth
century.
My final
paragraph tells of an even more bizarre happening brought about by the Government.
In 1849, fifty-five long years after the Glorious First of June and forty-four
long years after Trafalgar, they issued the Naval General Service Medal to each
man still living who had served in any conflict between 1793 and 1840, adding
to the medal a clasp for each of the major battles in that period. It was the FIRST OFFICIAL MEDAL and
thereafter each war/battle/campaign was awarded its own official medal with
clasps where necessary.
A TRULY SAD AND DISTURBING EVENT IN OUR NAVAL HISTORY.