Orders, Decorations and Medals

Naval General Service 1793-1840, 2 clasps, Off Tamatave 20 May 1811, Java (J. S. Haswell, Lieut. R.M.) edge bruising, suspension post repaired and top clasp re-fixed, otherwise very fine £1200-1500

John Stepney Haswell entered the Royal Marines as 2nd Lieutenant on 10 December 1798, was promoted 1st Lieutenant on 18 August 1804, and placed on half pay on 30 August 1814. In H.M.S. Phoebe, he was present with the squadron under Captain C. Schomberg at the capture, off Tamatave, of the French frigates Néréide and Renommée, which were carrying munitions to Mauritius, on 20 May 1811. Haswell was one of two Royal Marine officers on board the Phoebe at this action for which a total of 79 clasps were issued. By early August of the same year, Phoebe had taken up station with the rest of the fleet in preparation for the invasion of Java and, on the evening of the 21st, Haswell landed with a battalion of Marines under Captain F. Liardet and brigaded with the army. At midnight on the 25th the troops moved forward in an assault on Fort Cornelis, and after a desperate struggle in which the marines and seamen bore a distinguished part, they carried all before them. Three general officers, 34 field-officers, 70 captains, 150 subalterns, and nearly 5000 soldiers were taken prisoners; and more than 1000 were found dead about the works, and many others must have fallen during this sanguinary contest. On the part of the navy, 11 seamen and 4 marines were killed; Captain Stopford, Lieutenant Francis Noble, Lieutenants of Marines Henry Elliott and John Stepney Haswell, two master’s mates, 29 seamen, and 20 marines were wounded.