Tayler & Fletcher
Lot 260
A 19th Century Naval General Service Medal, 1848, awarded to G.A. (George Augustus) SCHULTZ, LIEUT R.N. (eventually obtaining the rank of Commander) with bar, NASSAU 22 MARCH 1808. Commissioned in 1775, the 'Holsteen' was a 60 gun ship of the line in the Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy and was captured by the British Royal Navy in the battle at Copenhagen Roads on 2nd April 1801 and subsequently re-named HMS Holstein and then HMS Nassau. On 12th April, the British sent Holstein back to Britain as she was the only one of the ships-of-the-line that the British chose to keep. Between March and September 1805, Perry & Co., Blackwell, repaired her at a cost of £22,022 and she was re-named ''Nassau'' and commissioned in September under Captain Robert Campbell for the North Sea. On 18th April 1806, Nassau was in company with Majestic, Agincourt, Dictator, Orpheus, Sparrow and the hired armed cutter Florence and helped capture the Prussian galliot Jonge Bartels, five days later, the Nassau captured the Vissery then on 2nd May, she captured the Nicholai and Martha with several other British warships sharing in the proceeds of the prize .In the late summer of 1807, she returned to Copenhagen where she participated in the second battle of Copenhagen and after the surrender of the Danish fleet, Nassau, on 21st October 1807, was one of the vessels that escorted the surrendered Danish ships from Holmen to Kronborg. On 22nd March 1808, Nassau and the 64 gun Stately destroyed the the last Danish ship-of-the-line, Prins Christian Frederik at Grenaa, off the east Jutland coast in a battle at Zealand Point. The battle cost Nassau one man killed, one man missing and sixteen men wounded. In 1847, the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasps ''Stately 22 March 1808'' and ''Nassau 22 March 1808'' to any still surviving crew members of those vessels that chose to claim them. It is recorded on the Medal Roll that only 31 men claimed the medal with the ''Nassau 22 March 1808'' clasp.
This Naval General Service Medal is particularly interesting because its recipient, Commander George Augustus Schultz, had whilst serving as an eleven year old, not only witnessed Britain's worst naval mutiny, the Nore Mutiny of 1797, which involved the Floating Republic's 28-ship blockade of London) and its infamous leader, Robert Parker's execution; but also had shared a cabin with the condemned man on the eve of his lynching. According to William O'Byrne's "A Naval Biographical Dictionary" at about 11 pm, Parker gave him his prayer-book with these words: "Here, youngster is a prayer-book for you."
