Naval General Service, 1 clasp, Endymion Wh President, unique name on the medal roll

Naval General Service, 1 clasp, Endymion Wh President

Joseph Guest.

unique name on the medal roll

For The  American Two and a Half Hour Action Between the 50-gun President and H.M.S. Endymion, Which Was Preceded By a Twelve Hour Pursuit of the American Ship By Endymion  served as Ordinary Seamanin H.M.S. Endymion 48 guns (Captain H. Hope) when she  chased, engaged, and led to the capture of the American 50 gun frigate President, 15.1.1815; the latter had been part of an American Squadron blockaded in New York; on 14.1.1815 she had taken the opportunity to ´make a dash for it´ when a storm arose and blew the British ships off the coast, ´Before daylight the next morning…. she ran into the British Squadron, and a headlong chase followed….. In the afternoon the wind became light and baffling, and the Endymion forged to the front and gained rapidly on the President….. For three hours the ships occasionally interchanged shots from their bow and stern chasers. At about half-past five the Endymion drew up close, and began to pour holes in her broadsides on the President´s starboard quarter, where not a gun of the latter would bear. For half an hour the President bore the battering as best she might, unable to retaliate; and did not like to alter her course, lest she should lessen her chance of escape. Moreover, Decatur expected the Endymion to come up abeam. But Captain Hope kept his position by yawing, not wishing to forfeit his advantage. In this he was quite right, for the President suffered more during the half-hour when she had to endure the unreturned fire of her opponent than during the entire remainder of the combat. At six o´clock Decatur found his position unbearable, and kept off, heading to the south. The two frigates ran abreast, the Americans using the starboard, the British the port, battery. Decatur tried to close with his antagonist, but the latter, being both lighter and swifter ship, hauled up and frustrated the attempt. The President then endeavoured to dismantle the British frigate, and thus get rid of her. In this she was successful. The Endymion´s sails were cut from her yards, and she fell astern, the fire gradually dying away on both sides. The last shot was fired from the President. Three hours afterwards, at eleven o´clock, the Pomone caught up with the President, and gave her two broadsides, which killed and wounded a considerable number of people. The Endymion was out of sight astern. Decatur did not return the fire, but surrendered….. In the President twenty-four were killed and fifty wounded; in the Endymion eleven were killed and fourteen wounded.´

Provenance: Cheylesmore Collection, July 1930; Spink, March 1995.Gayle Hawkes Collection,

Minor edge bump.