Auction Catalogue

29 June 2006

Starting at 10:00 AM

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Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

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

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Lot

№ 921 x

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29 June 2006

Hammer Price:
£4,700

Four: Captain Francis Stirling, Royal Navy, commander of H.M.S. Thistle, and in command of the Naval Brigade landed from Thistle and Fly during the Perak campaign, later lost with all hands when the training ship Atalanta disappeared without trace off Bermuda in February 1880

Crimea 1854-56, 1 clasp, Sebastopol, unnamed as issued; Turkish Crimea 1855, British issue, unnamed as issued; China1857-60, 1 clasp, Canton 1857, unnamed as issued; India General Service 1854-94, 1 clasp, Perak (Commdr. F. Stirling, R.N. H.M.S. “Thistle”) all contained in a contemporary fitted glazed display case, extremely fine (4) £2000-2500

Francis Stirling was born on 1 April 1839, son of Charles Stirling, of Muiravonside House, Linlithgow, West Lothian. He attended Edinburgh Academy and entered the Royal Navy as a Naval Cadet in March 1852. He joined Highflyer in May 1853, was appointed Midshipman in March 1854, and served in that ship in the Crimea, including the bombardment of Sebastopol, 17 Cotober, and the subsequent night attacks. He next served as Midshipman and Mate of Sans Pareil during the China war of 1857-58, and served in the Navla Brigade at the assault, capture, and occupation of Canton. He was Second Lieutenant of the Bombay when she was burnt on 14 December 1864.

As Commander of
Thistle during the Perak campaign of 1875-76, Stirling commanded the 3rd Division of Naval Brigade during operations against the Malays in the Straits of Malacca. He defeated the Malays in two attacks at Passir Sala, for which he was specially mentioned for his zeal and energy. He planned and carried out the attack and capture of Passir Sala, and subsequently commanded the Naval Brigade operating against Sungsi U’Jong, including the capture of the enemy’s stockades in the Buket Putas Pass. For his ‘distinguished service’ in the Malay Peninsula he was specially promoted to Captain on 9 March 1876.

Stirling was immediately placed on half-pay whilst awaiting a suitable command which eventually came in September 1878, in the shape of the training frigate
Atalanta. This sailing frigate, built in 1844, was converted into a training ship for ordinary seamen after the tragic loss of the Eurydice in March 1878 with her complement of some 300 men and boys. The Atalanta left Portsmouth on 7 November 1879, having on board 15 officers and 265 men and boys, under command of Captain Francis Stirling. It was Atalanta’s third voyage in the capacity of a training ship and early in the cruise yellow fever broke out and the captain decided to run for Bermuda, where he arrived on 29 January 1880. Two days later the ship sailed from home, having considerably shortened her timetable, and from the date of her leaving Bermuda the Atalanta was never heard of again. A terrific gale raged from the 12th to the 16th of February and it is possible that the vessel was overwhelmed by this. The Channel Squadron under Admiral Hood made an exhaustive search over a wide area but without result, and in May the Admiralty was compelled to conclude that the Atalanta was lost.

A Naval Officer, writing after the loss of the
Atalanta, said: ‘The noble character of Captain Francis Stirling is alone sufficient reason for speaking of his sad death, apart from the great calamity in which his ship and her living freight are included. I speak with confidence when I say that no officer in the Navy had won more universal affection and respect among those with whom he had served than Francis Stirling’... ‘Stirling’s calmness in danger will, one may trust, have stood all around him in good stead in their last moments. When, in 1864, the Bombay was burning, and everything that could be thought of to save life had been done, Commander Wilson said to him, standing on the forecastle amid falling spars and burning ropes, the flames bursting through the upper deck, and the ship in momentary danger of blowing up, “Now, Stirling, we can do no more; we will jump overboard and swim to the boats.” His answer was calm and firm, “There is no hope for me; I can’t swim.” He was only saved, after great peril and painful suspense, from under the bows of the ship by a volunteer boat’s crew, at the imminent risk for a second time of their own lives.’