The rare Naval General Service Medal 1793-1840, 2 Clasps: Java, Algiers, awarded to Lieutenant Robert Wintle Innes, Royal Navy, who is one of only 13 recipients - five of whom were officers - to receive this clasp combination. Having first entered the navy as a First Class Volunteer in April 1807, he then saw service in the Indian Ocean, and whilst aboard the frigate Cornelia, participated in the capture of some slaves at Diego Garcia in May 1810, before serving ashore during November to December 1810 at the invasion and taking of the Isle of France, now Mauritius. Innes was still with Cornelia when he assisted at the storming of Fort Cornelis during the operations connected with the capture of the Dutch island of Java from July to 18th September 1811, which came about owing to the annexation by Napoleon of the Batavian Republic the previous year. In the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars he was aboard the heavy frigate Glasgow when she participated in the Bombardment of Algiers on 16 August 186 during the successful operations to free the Christian slaves taken captive by the Barbary Pirates. Between 1820 and the 1840’s he saw service aboard vessels, and sometimes in command, when employed on both the Mediterranean and Home Stations.
Naval General Service Medal 1793-1840, 2 Clasps: Java, Algiers; (ROBERT W. INNES. LIEUT. R.N.)
Condition: Nearly Extremely Fine.
Robert Wintle Innes was the brother of Retired Commander William John Innes, R.N. He entered the Royal Navy on 21 April 1807, as a First-class Volunteer on board the Favorite sloop, and as such saw service under Captains John Nairne and Frederick Hoffman, when employed at first off the coast of Africa, and then in the West Indies, where Innes accompanied Captain Hoffman into the 18 gun sloop Goelan. Proceeding in 1808 to the East Indies in the frigate Cornelia under the command of Captain Henry Folkes Edgell as a part of the Cape of Good Hope Squadron. On 13 May 1810 Cornelia was in company with Sir Francis Drake and HMS Diana, when they captured some slaves at Diego Garcia.
As such, and whilst still on the books of Cornelia, Innes served on shore as Midshipman during November to December 1810 at the invasion and taking of the Isle of France (now Mauritius) in the Indian Ocean. and he then similarly assisted at the storming of Fort Cornelis during the operations connected with the capture of the Dutch island of Java from July to 18th September 1811. During the operations in Java between August and September 1811, Cornelia was commanded by Captain William Fitzwilliam Owen.
The annexation by Napoleon of the Batavian Republic the previous year lead to the realisation that the surrounding Dutch colonies presented similar dangers. Hence the British took steps to solve the problem. In the case of Java, the British Expedition consisted of nearly 100 sail under Rear Admiral the Hon Robert Stopford, in H.M.S. Scorpion of 74 guns, with troops some 8000 strong under Major General Wetherall and Colonel Robert R. Gillespie. In all only 2 officers and 22 ratings / marines from Cornalia lived to claim the clasp Java.
Innes returned home in 1812 with his old commander, Captain Edgell, when on board the 38 gun frigate Piedmontaise; and on 6 December 1813, after he had further served on the Home station in the 28 gun frigate Thisbe, commanded by Captain Thomas Dick, and the San Josef and Queen Charlotte flag-ships of Lord Keith and Sir Pulteney Malcolm, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 22 February 1814. His subsequent appointments were: to the 18 gun Harrier, when she was commanded by Captains Andrew Pellet Green, John Forbes, and Sir Charles Thomas Jones, and employed off the Canary Islands. In 1815, he saw service with the 18 gun Rifleman, and the 36 gun frigate Pique, commanded respectively by Captains Henry Edward Napier and the Honourable Anthony Maitland; on then on 21 February1816 he transferred across with his commanding officer, Maitland, to the 40 gun frigate Glasgow, and as such fought at the Bombardment of Algiers on 16 August 1816.
Following the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, the Royal Navy no longer needed the Barbary states as a source of supplies for Gibraltar and their fleet in the Mediterranean Sea. This freed Britain to exert considerable political pressure to force the Barbary states to end their piracy and practice of enslaving European Christians.
In early 1816, Exmouth undertook a diplomatic mission to Tunis, Tripoli, and Algiers, backed by a small squadron of ships of the line, to convince the Deys to stop the practice and free the Christian slaves. The Deys of Tunis and Tripoli agreed without any resistance, but the Dey of Algiers was more recalcitrant and the negotiations were stormy. Exmouth believed that he had managed to negotiate a treaty to stop the slavery of Christians and returned to England. However, due to confused orders, Algerian troops massacred 200 Corsican, Sicilian, and Sardinian fishermen who were under British protection just after the treaty was signed. This caused outrage in Britain and Europe, and Exmouth's negotiations were seen as a failure.
As a result, Exmouth was ordered to sea again to complete the job and punish the Algerians. He gathered a squadron of five ships of the line, one 50-gun spar-decked frigate (H.M.S Leander), four conventional frigates (HMS Severn, Glasgow, Granicus, and Hebrus), and five bomb ships (HMS Belzebub, Fury, Hecla, and Infernal). HMS Queen Charlotte —100 guns—was his flagship and Rear Admiral David Milne was his second in command aboard HMS Impregnable, 98 guns. This squadron was considered by many to be an insufficient force, but Exmouth had already unobtrusively surveyed the defences of Algiers; he was very familiar with the town, and was aware of a weakness in the field of fire of the defensive batteries. He believed that more large ships would have interfered with each other without being able to bring much more fire to bear. In addition to the main fleet, there were four sloops (HMS Heron, Mutine, Cordelia, and Britomart), eight ships' boats armed with Congreve rockets, and some transports to carry the rescued slaves.
When the British arrived in Gibraltar, a squadron of five Dutch frigates (Melampus, Frederica, Dageraad, Diana, and Amstel) and the corvette Eendragt, led by Vice-Admiral Theodorus Frederick van Capellen, offered to join the expedition. Exmouth decided to assign them to cover the main force from Algerian flanking batteries, as there was insufficient space in the mole for the Dutch frigates.
The day before the attack, the frigate Prometheus arrived and its captain W. B. Dashwood attempted to secretly rescue the British Consul and his wife and infant. Some of the rescue party was discovered and arrested. The attack was described by the U.S. Consul.
The plan of attack was for the larger ships to approach in a column. They were to sail into the zone where the majority of the Algerian guns could not be brought to bear. Then, they were to come to anchor and bombard the batteries and fortifications on the mole to destroy the defences. Simultaneously, HMS Leander—50 guns—was to anchor off the mouth of the harbour and bombard the shipping inside the mole. To protect Leander from the shore battery, frigates HMS Severn and Glasgow were to sail inshore and bombard the battery. Troops would then storm ashore on the mole with sappers of the Royal Engineers.
Exmouth in Queen Charlotte anchored approximately 80 yd (73 m) off the mole, facing the Algerian guns. However, a number of the other ships anchored out of position, notably Admiral Milne aboard HMS Impregnable, who was 400 yards from where he should have been. This error reduced the effectiveness of these ships and exposed them to fiercer Algerian fire. Some of the other ships sailed past Impregnable and anchored in positions closer to the plan. The unfortunate gap created by the misplaced HMS Impregnable was closed by the frigate HMS Granicus and the sloop Heron.
In their earlier negotiations, both Exmouth and the Dey of Algiers had stated that they would not fire the first shot. The Dey's plan was to allow the fleet to anchor and then to sortie from the harbour and board the ships with large numbers of men in small boats. But Algerian discipline was less effective and one Algerian gun fired a shot at 15:15. Exmouth immediately began the bombardment.
The Algerian flotilla of 40 gunboats made an attempt to board Queen Charlotte while the sailors were aloft setting sail, but twenty eight of their boats were sunk by broadsides, and the remaining ran themselves on shore. After an hour, the cannon on the mole were effectively silenced, and Exmouth turned his attention to the shipping in the harbour, which was destroyed by 19:30. One unmanned Algerine frigate was destroyed after being boarded by the crew of Queen Charlotte's barge, who then set it on fire. Three other Algerine frigates and five corvettes were destroyed by the fire of mortars and rockets. The burning shipping drifting in the harbour forced some bombarding ships to manoeuvre out of their way.
Impregnable was isolated from the other ships and made a large and tempting target, attracting attention from the Algerian gunners who raked her fore and aft, severely damaging her. 268 shots hit the hull, and the main mast was damaged in 15 places, with 50 killed and 164 wounded.
The fleet also bombarded the city, but there was comparatively little damage as the construction of the houses resulted in cannonballs passing through their walls, leaving neat holes, without destroying them. The explosive mortar shells and rockets caused some destruction to domestic buildings, and the shipping in the harbour burned so fiercely that the warehouses nearby caught fire and burned down.
One sloop had been fitted out as an explosion vessel, with 143 barrels of gunpowder aboard, and Milne asked at 20:00 that it be used against the "Lighthouse battery", which was mauling his ship. The vessel was exploded, but to little effect and against the wrong battery.
Despite this, the Algerian batteries could not maintain fire and, by 22:15, Exmouth gave the order for the fleet to weigh anchor and sail out of range, leaving HMS Minden to keep firing to suppress any further resistance. The wind had changed and was blowing from the shore, which helped the fleets depart. By 01:30 the next morning, the fleet was anchored out of range. The wounded were treated, and the crew cleared the damage caused by the Algerian guns. Casualties on the British side were 128 killed and 690 wounded, (16 percent killed or wounded). As a comparison, the British casualties at the Battle of Trafalgar had been only 9 percent. The allied squadron had fired over 50,000 round shot using 118 tons of gunpowder, and the bomb vessels had fired 960 explosive mortar shells. The Algerian forces had had 308 guns and 7 mortars.
The following day at noon, Exmouth sent the following letter to the Dey: "Sir, for your atrocities at Bona on defenceless Christians, and your unbecoming disregard of the demands I made yesterday in the name of the Prince Regent of England, the fleet under my orders has given you a signal chastisement, by the total destruction of your navy, storehouse, and arsenal, with half your batteries. As England does not war for the destruction of cities, I am unwilling to visit your personal cruelties upon the unoffending inhabitants of the country, and I therefore offer you the same terms of peace which I conveyed to you yesterday in my Sovereign's name. Without the acceptance of these terms, you can have no peace with England."
He warned that if they were not accepted, then he would continue the action. The Dey accepted the terms, not realising that they were a bluff, as the fleet had already fired off almost all of its ammunition. A treaty was signed on September 24, 1816. The room it was signed in had been hit by nine round shot and was a perfect ruin. The Dey freed 1,083 Christian slaves and the British Consul and repaid the ransom money taken in 1816, about £80,000. Over 3000 slaves in total were later freed. Drescher notes Algiers as 'the sole case in the sixty years of British slave trade suppression in which a large number of British lives were lost in actual combat.’ However, despite British naval efforts it has been difficult to assess the long-term impact of the Bombardment of Algiers as the Dey reconstructed Algiers, replacing Christian slaves with Jewish labour, and the Barbary slave trade continued under subsequent Deys. In all 22 officers and 70 ratings / marines from Glasgow lived to claim the clasp Java.
Innes next features when in April 1821, he was appointed to the command of the Colonial vessel Ionia; and from 13 December 1827 to 2 March 1829, he was aboard the Infernal bomb vessel, she being commanded by Captains Edmund Williams Gilbert and Brunswick Popham. He next saw service aboard the 46 gun frigate Madagascar commanded by Captain the Honourable Sir Robert Cavendish Spencer, when both present on both the Mediterranean station. For a short time in 1832 he was aboard the 50 gun Vernon, when commanded by Captain Sir Francis Augustus Collier, and fitting at Woolwich; and then on 5 March 1836 he was appointed to the command of the packet vessel Pandora packet on the Falmouth station, and serving as such until January 1842, when he was placed on half-pay. He is understood to have died at Alverstoke, near Gosport, towards the end of 1850.
Innes is one of only 13 recipients of the Naval General Service Medal with the two clasp combination for Java and Algiers, with 5 being to officers
