Auction Catalogue

4 December 2002

Starting at 12:00 PM

.

Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Grand Connaught Rooms  61 - 65 Great Queen St  London  WC2B 5DA

Lot

№ 533

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4 December 2002

Hammer Price:
£360

An interesting group of documents relating to Lieutenant William Gaspey, Royal Navy, including a rare Admiralty Press Warrant and Instructions for the execution of that service

(I) Vellum Commission document appointing Mr William Gaspey as Third Lieutenant of His Majesty’s Ship the Portland and Lieutenant at Arms, dated 18 October 1759.
(ii) Certificate of service as Midshipman on board the
Mars from 18 December 1749 to 20 November 1752, and also on board the Vanguard from 22 January 1753 to 22 October 1753, signed on board the Vanguard by Captain Frederick Rogers.
(iii) Certificate of service as Midshipman on board the
Eagle from 29 January 1754 to 26 April 1754, signed on board the Eagle by Captain G. Pocock.
(iv) Certificate of service as Midshipman on board the
St George from 20 April 1757 to 1 June 1757, and on board the Culloden from 1 June 1757 to 20 August 1759, signed on board the Culloden by Captain Smith Callis.
(v) Admiralty letter appointing Lieutenant William Gaspey to the service of raising Men at Reading, dated 16 July 1761, and addressed to him ‘at a Tabacconist, in Salisbury Court, Fleet Street.’
(vi) Press warrant issued ‘By the Commiffioners for Executing the Office of Lord High Admiral of Great Britain and Irelend, &c. and of all His Majefty’s Plantations, &c.’ to Lieutenant William Gaspey, at Reading, ‘
We do hereby Impower and Direct you to Imprefs, or caufe to be Impreffed, fo many Seamen, Seafaring Men, and Perfons whofe Occupations and Callings are to work in Veffels and Boats upon Rivers, as you fhall be able, in order to Man His Majefty’s Ships, giving upon each Man fo Impreffed, One Shilling for Preft-Money’, dated 21 July 1761, and endorsed by the Mayors of Reading and Maidenhead, much folded and creased, and separated horizontally in two halves
(vii) Letter from Captain Arbuthnott, of His Majesty’s Ship
Portland, to Lieutenant William Gaspey, of the same ship, directing him to collect the seamen of the ship and to send them on board the Jersey Hulk, ‘and not to suffer them to come on shore ‘till further orders’, signed on board the Portland in Plymouth Dock, 4 October 1766.
(viii) ‘Instructions for Lieutenant Wm. Gaspey, appointed to procure Men for the Service of His Majesty’s Fleet’, 14pp printed instructions with additional forms of Account,
generally in good condition for age but some pieces would benefit from professional restoration, a rare archive of significant naval and social history interest £300-500

Captain Smith Callis, under whom William Gaspey served as a Midshipman in the St George and the Culloden, was one of the naval heroes of the day, having been awarded a special Gold Medal and Chain by the King for the destruction of five Spanish galleys in the French port of St Tropez in June 1742.