Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Naval General Service 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Cyane 16 Jany 1814 (Daniel Young, Midshipman.) hairlines, otherwise nearly extremely fine £18000-22000

Provenance: Fergus Gowans Collection 1947-71, disposed of privately.

7 clasps issued for ‘Cyane 16 Jany 1814’. Daniel Young is confirmed as a Midshipman on board the Cyane at the capture of the French frigates Alcèmene and Iphigenié, off the Canary Islands. Medals with this clasp are held by the National Maritime Museum, the Royal Naval Museum, and in the Honeyman and Patiala Collections, whilst the medal to Lieutenant Edward Grant is in a private collection.

Daniel Young entered the Navy on, 15 October 1813, as First Class Volunteer, on board the Cyane of 32 guns and 171 men, Captain Thomas Forrest. On the morning of 16 January 1814, the Venerable 74, Captain J. A. Worth, and the Cyane, together with the prize brig Jason, fell in with the French 40-gun frigates Alcamène and Iphigenié. The British ships immediately gave chase and, at 6.15 pm, the Venerable opened fire on the Alcmène which in turn ran the British ship on board. The Frenchman, expecting support from her consort, was left to her fate when, at 6.30 pm, Captain Worth at the head of a boarding party, hauled down the French colours. Meanwhile the Cyane and Jason, the last with two guns only, pursued the Iphigenié and, at 10.00 pm, the brig, outrunning the Cyane, gallantly opened fire on the enemy frigate until 4.30 am, when she dropped astern. The pursuit continued for the next four days when, at 8.00 am on the 20th, the Venerable came up within two miles of the Iphigenié and, after a running fight, the Frenchman fired a broadside and struck her colours. The French ships were added to the Royal Navy as the Gloire and Dunira.

On 20 February 1815, after having visited Quebec, Newfoundland, and Gibraltar, the Cyane was captured, simultaneously with the Levant of 20 guns and 131 men, by the U.S. frigate Constitution of 54 guns and 469 men, at the end of a fierce conflict, in which the Cyane, besides being cut to pieces, sustained a loss of 6 killed and 13, including Midshipman Young, wounded. With his fellow-prisoners, Mr. Young, who, as well as the rest, had been plundered of all he had, was put on shore at Maranham, on the coast of Brazil. On his ultimate return to England he was received, in October 1815, on board the Vengeur 74, Captain Thos. Alexander, lying at Portsmouth, where he remained until August 1817. During the next three years he was employed in South America in the Tyne 26, Captain G. T. Falcon; he then, in November 1820, joined the Iphigenia 42, Captain Hyde Parker, in the Mediterranean; and in September 1821 (nearly three months after he had left the Iphigenia) he was appointed Admiralty-Midshipman of the Severn 50, Coast Blockade-ship, Captain William M‘Culloch. While attached to the Severn he lost his left leg and thigh. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 7 December 1822, and was thereafter on half-pay.