1848 British Naval General Service medal with one clasp. 14 DEC BOAT SERVICE 1814. Silver, 36 mm. MY-94 (clasp ccxxxiii), BBM-39. About Uncirculated. Wm. CHOPPIN. punched on edge. Extremely Fine. Somewhat polished, but bright and reflective in the fields, with a gathering of pastel blue and violet toning around the peripheries of both sides. The clasp is sound and undamaged. A very attractive medal.<p>As noted in the Ford VII description of this medal, "Choppin was a landsman aboard HMS <em>Royal Oak</em>," one of 20 ships present for this action at the end of the War of 1812. Among the other ships present were the HMS <em>Seahorse</em>, which was among the small number of vessels to ascend the Potomac River, and the HMS <em>Shannon</em>, which defeated the USS <em>Chesapeake</em> in 1813. The Royal Oak, though its crew received no previous NGSM clasp honors, played a vital role on the attack on Washington, leading the flotilla of men and ships from Bermuda that took Washington and burned the White House.<p>205 clasps were awarded for the action, described in the rolls as "capture of five American gun vessels and a sloop on Lake Borgne, New Orleans."<p>By December 1814, peace negotiations in Ghent, Belgium were nearly complete. They had begun in August, and peace negotiators stood by as British forces attacked Washington and Baltimore in August and September. Soon after, the focus of combat operations became the Gulf Coast. Americans at Fort Bowyer, near Mobile, Alabama, rejected a British assault in September 1814. Gen. Andrew Jackson took Pensacola from the Spanish, along with their British and Creek allies, in early November 1814. The war then coalesced on the coasts biggest prize: New Orleans.<p>Lake Borgne is a lagoon of the Gulf of Mexico, the major water pathway from the open sea to Lake Pontchartrain (and, on the lakes banks, New Orleans). Its a big body of water, and a challenging one to defend. Upon hearing of the advance of a British fleet towards Louisiana, American forces dispatched a small flotilla to defend Lake Borgne: a schooner, two sloops of war armed with a pair of 12-pounders and a 6-pounder, and five gunboats that were armed to the teeth. The flotilla carried 245 men, and they were all that stood between the might of the Royal Navy and New Orleans.<p>When the British forces showed up - 1,200 men on 42 boats - the battle went about as one could imagine. The two hour engagement ended after just five minutes of hand to hand combat, after which all the American vessels had been overwhelmed, boarded, and defeated. Lake Borgne became the primary British staging area for the Battle of New Orleans, an engagement that actually happened after the signing of the treaty of peace at Ghent. Andrew Jacksons repulse of British forces on January 8, 1815 was brisk and complete. The War of 1812, for most intents and purposes, ended that day, just as Jacksons career was really beginning.<p>With 205 clasps awarded and claimed, this is a scarce numismatic memento of the War of 1812. Several are in institutional collections.<p>Offered with a modern ribbon. From the Gem Collection. <p> Earlier from Spink & Son, August 1950; Eric Vaule, February 1963; our (Stacks) sale of the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, Part VII, January 2005, lot 390. <p>
