Naval General Service Medal 1793-1840, 1 Clasp: Syria awarded to James McKay who saw service as a Bosun’s Yeoman aboard the 80-gun second rate ship HMS Bellerophon which spearheaded the northern bombardment of the heavily fortified Egyptian-held port of St. Jean D’Acre on 3rd November 1840.
Naval General Service Medal 1793-1840, 1 Clasp: Syria; (JAMES MCKAY)
Condition: some contact wear to obverse field, about Good Very Fine
Provenance: Glendinings, January 1942
James McKay saw service as a Bosun’s Yeoman aboard the 80-gun second rate ship HMS Bellerophon which served as part of an allied British, Austrian, and Ottoman fleet. Commanded by Captain Charles Austen, the ship spearheaded the northern bombardment of the heavily fortified Egyptian-held port of St. Jean d'Acre on November 3, 1840.
The increasing power of Mehemet Ali, Viceroy of Egypt, alarmed the major European nations. In summer 1839, Egyptian forces destroyed a strong Turkish army and captured the Turkish fleet at Alexandria. With the Egyptians now in Syria, Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia intervened. A combined fleet under Admiral Sir Robert Stopford, with his flagship Princess Charlotte, of 104 guns, sailed to the eastern Mediterranean, bombarded Acre and stormed the town on 3rd November 1840. The Egyptians agreed to evacuate the town and return the Turkish fleet. Sir Robert Stopford received the thanks of both Houses of Parliament and the Freedom of the City of London for this action. Austria, Prussia, Russia, Russia and Turkey also bestowed marks of distinction.
The only man of this name on the Naval General Service Medal roll.
