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Auction: 8023 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Militaria
Lot: 212

Naval General Service 1793-1840, two clasps, Acre 30 May 1799, Egypt (E. Mourilyan, Midshipman), good very fine, in original named card box of issue Estimate £ 5,000-6,000 Edward Mourilyan was born in Deal, Kent, and entered the Royal Navy as a Landsman, July 1798. His first posting was as a Midshipman to H.M.S. Tigre, a 74 gun ship of the line under the command of Sir William Sidney Smith. Defence of Acre, 1799 Having learnt from Gezar Pasha, Governor of Syria, that the French Army was planning to attack the Provincial Capital of Acre, Commodore Sir William Sidney Smith sailed with his squadron, comprising of H.M.S. Tigre, Theseus, and Alliance to Acre´´s relief, anchoring in Acre Bay two days before the French attack. On the night of the 17th March 1799, the enemy´´s advance guard was discovered by the Tigre´´s guard boats at the foot of Mount Carmel. Exposed to the fire of grape shot from the boats, the main body of the French Army was forced to attack Acre from the Nazareth road to the east, along which they were set upon by a group of Samaritans. That same day Mourilyan´´s ship Tigre captured a flotilla of seven vessels, thirty four guns, and 238 men, that was bringing cannons, ammunition, and every kind of siege equipment for the French army, and which was immediately used in the defence operations. On the 9th April, the Acre garrison, together with a detachment of seamen and marines, made a successful sortie against the French besiegers. The Tigre on one side of the town, and the Theseus on the other, completely flanked the town´´s walls, and a number of subsequent attempts by the enemy to storm a wide breach in the defences failed with heavy French losses. On the 7th May the French launched a heavy assault hoping to capture the town before reinforcements could arrive. Mourilyan, together with the entire crew from the Tigre came ashore and, armed only with pikes, and assisted by a few brave Turks, whose most destructive weapons were heavy stones, they drove back the enemy with massive casualties in full view of the watching Bonaparte. On the 20th May the French raised the siege and withdrew towards Egypt. In his report of the action to Rear-Admiral of the Blue Lord Nelson, dated 30.5.1799, Smith wrote: ´´The Providence of Almighty God has been wonderfully manifested in the Defeat and retreat of the French Army, the means we had of opposing its gigantic efforts against us being totally inadequate in themselves to produce such a result. The Plain of Nazareth has been the Boundary of Bonaparte´´s career, and he has left all his heavy artillery behind. I have every confidence that the officers and men of the three ships under my command who, in the face of a most formidable enemy, had fortified a town that had not a single heavy gun mounted on the land side, and who carried out all intercourse by boats under a constant fire of musketry and grape, will be able to assist the Army in its future operations.´´ Total British casualties for the Defence of Acre, 17.3-20.5.1799, were 53 killed, 113 wounded, 13 drowned, and 82 taken prisoner. At the height of the siege H.M.S. Tigre was shelled by the enemy, and set on fire in five places, but was saved through the exertions and bravery of her entire crew. Egypt, 1801 Following the failure of the French to capture Acre, Napoleon led his army into Egypt. A vast fleet of 155 vessels, under the command of Vice Admiral Lord Keith, assisted in operations on and off the coast, in support of the Army under the command of General Sir Ralph Abercrombie. On the 21st March Sir William Sidney Smith led on shore a party of Officers and men from H.M.S. Tigre, Swiftsure, Ajax, Northumberland, Kent, and Minotaur. The enemy was repulsed with great loss, although Sir William was himself wounded in the attack. Mourilyan was present throughout the operations on and off the Egyptian coast, culminating with the French surrender at Alexandria on the 2nd September. H.M.S. Tigre bore the victorious despatches back to Britain. Capture of Capri, 1806 In March 1803 Mourilyan rejoined Sir William Sidney Smith as Master´´s Mate in H.M.S. Antelope, and was present during the action with the enemy fleet off Ostend on 16th May 1804; later whilst serving on the North Sea station he was severely wounded whilst boarding a Dutch gun-boat, and received a pecuniary reward from the Patriotic Society. Transferring to H.M.S. Pompée he was promoted Lieutenant, 31.1.1806, and in the spring of that year he witnessed the surrender of the Island of Capri, whilst in command of Pompée´´s launch during the battle of Scalea. In his report of the action to Vice-Admiral Lord Collingwood, dated 24.5.1806, Sir William Sidney Smith wrote: ´´On the 23rd May, obtaining intelligence that the enemy had two 36-pounders in a small vessel on the beach at Scalea, I sent the Pompée´´s boats in for them. But the French troops were too well posted in the houses of the Town for them to succeed without the cover of the Ship. I accordingly stood in with the Pompée, and a few of the Pompée´´s lower deck guns cleared the town and neighbouring hills, while the Launch, commanded by Lieutenant Moyrilyan, with Lieutenant Oats of the Marines, and Mr. Williams drove the French with their armed adherents from the guns, and took possession of the guns and the Castle.´´ In December 1809 Mourilyan was given command of H.M. Hired Cutter Swan, which captured the Juliana Carolina on the 4th August 1810, and both the Baron Rantzen Lhen and the Bellona on the 19th April 1811. The Swan was sunk in the Baltic in a severe action with a flotilla of Danish gun-boats, 26.3.1814. Edward Mourilyan went on half-pay later that year, and became an out-patient of Greenwich Hospital, August 1835. He retired with the rank of Commander, 6.4.1839.

Sold for
£16,000