A good Officer’s Naval General Service St. Domingo where he was wounded on board ‘Spencer’ (74) which took the French Alexandre (80) though at heavy cost. Again wounded this time severely in the bay of Sagone, 1811. One of the first officers appointed to the preventative service was Inspecting Commander of the Coast Guard Bray (Ireland) and later A. Inspector General Dub lin

Naval General Service, clasp St. Domingo

William Neame, Midshipman

Was slightly wounded at the battle of St, Domingo, Feb. 6th, 1806, while serving as midshipman on board the Spencer 74, Captain the Hon. (now Sir) Robert Stopford. He obtained his first commission on the 28th June, 1808; and, as senior lieutenant of the Scout sloop. Captain A. R. Sharpe, received a severe wound in action with two French store-ships, an armed transport, a battery, and a Martello tower, in the bay of Sagone, Corsica, the whole of which were destroyed, May 1st, 1811.

Lieutenant Neame continued in the Scout, latterly under the command of Captain J. A. Murray, until the end of the war; and subsequently rejoined Captain Sharpe, in the Hyacinth 24. He was one of the first officers appointed by the Treasury to the preventive service, in which and the coast guard he continued, we believe, from 1816 until promoted to his present rank, April 4th, 1832. He was appointed inspecting commander of the coast guard in the district of Bray, Ireland, Mar. 18th, 1834; and has lately been removed to the Dublin district, with orders for him to discharge the duties of Assistant-Inspector-General, which office has been abolished since the demise of Commander Jonathan Christian.

Spencer suffered some 68 killed or wounded at St Domingo.  As the combat raged at the head of the line, the remainder of both squadrons strained to join the battle. The British eastern division under Louis reached the battling Alexandre and Spencer at 10:35, the two ships locked together to the south of the main engagement. As they passed, Canopus, Donegal, and Atlas all raked the French ship, bringing down her masts and leaving her crippled. At 11:00, Spencer followed Canopus while Alexandre’s crew were preoccupied with extinguishing a fire that had broken out on board. Alexandre was so badly damaged that she was unable to either escape or continue the action; she formally surrendered ten minutes later,  a shattered wreck. Her British prize crew only just prevented the gaping holes smashed in her hull from sinking her. In the event Alexandre was too badly damaged for further service, being broken up on arrival..

Casualties were also distributed throughout the fleet, with Northumberland and Spencer suffering the worst

Duckworth was fortunate to have with him captains on the Superb, Canopus, Spencer, and Donegal who had all been part of Nelson’s Mediterranean fleet and who worked instinctively together, feeling no need to wait for any direction from the Admiral – for it was said, little was forthcoming.

1811 April. Two armed storeships Giraffe and Nourrice., each mounting 20 to 30 guns, the first with 140, the other with 160 men, having in their company, a merchant ship, also armed, and laden, as thet also were, with ship-timber for the dockyard at Toulon, lay at anchor in the bay of Sagone, island of Corsica, under the protection of a battery, mounting four guns and one mortar, and of a martello tower above the battery, mounting one gun. On the 30th, in the evening, the British 38-gun frigate Pomone, the frigate Unite, and the 18-gun brig-sloop Scout, arrived off the coast with the intention of attacking these ships. The French Commodore moored his ships within a stone’s throw of the battery, each with two cables on shore, so as to present their broadsides to the narrow entrance of the bay. As an additional defence, the Nourrice  landed her quarterdeck guns; and about 200 regular troops, along with her marines and those of the Giraffe, were posted on the neighbouring heights.

On the morning of the 1st of May, notwithstanding the strong position of the French ships, the crews of the two British frigates and brig came forward and volunteered their services to land , or, as it was quite calm, to attack the enemy by boats. Neither of these methods being considered practicable, it was resolved , as soon as the breeze sprang up . to make the attack by ship.. Finding by 5. 30 p.m., that the calm still continued , and fearing that any longer delay would enable the French to increase their force, the Pomone, Unite, and Scout, were towed by their respective companies, in the face of heavy raking fire, into a position within range of grape; when at 6 p.m. the British ships opened their broadside.  The mutual cannonade lasted until 7.30 p.m., when the Giraffe, bearing a commodore’s pendant, and then the Nourrice, was observed to be on fire. Afterwards the brands from the Nourrice set fire to the merchantman, and in ten minutes all three ships were completely ablaze. The Pomone and her consorts now quickly towed themselves of our danger from the explosions (though not quickly enough for Neame); the first of which, that of the Giraffe, took place at 8.50 p.m. , and that of the Nourrice, a few minutes afterwards. Some of the timbers of the latter, falling on the to, which also explodedwer, entirely demolished it, and the sparks set fire to the battery below.’

Murray Collection 1882, Baldwin’s 1939, Glen’s 1986