Orders, Decorations and Medals

Naval General Service 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Victorious with Rivoli (John Jenkins) good very fine £900-1200

Ex Colonel Murray Collection and Sotheby November 1957.

John Jenkins is confirmed as an Able Seaman aboard the Victorious . Approximately 66 clasps issued for this exceptionally bloody action, for which the Naval Gold Medal was awarded to Captain John Talbot, in addition to a Knighthood. On 22 February 1812, Victorious engaged the French seventy-four gun ship Rivoli, off Venice, at about 4.30 a.m., in an action that lasted for over four hours. The Rivoli was heavily damaged, her mizen mast shot away, and four hundred of her crew were killed or wounded. The loss to the Victorious was twenty-seven killed and ninety-nine wounded, including her Captain. H.M.S. Weazel, cruising in consort, simultaneously fought the French brig Mercure, which eventually blew up without loss to the Weazel. The rolls show three other men with these names, one for Camperdown and two for Syria.