Naval General Service clasp Endymion wh President
John Barnett
Served as Private , Royal Marines
Prov. collection of Carleton S. Gifford of Boston (fl. 1916-1934); Glendining’s sale of May 1985, lot 27 Stack’s , ex Gale Hawkes Collection, sale of the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, Part VII, January 2005, lot 382.
Two other John Barnett on the roll, one a 2 clasp Pelagossa and with Egypt, however this of long and fine provenance, beautiful condition and very much as issued.
The British squadron sighted President at dawn on January 14. The winds had waned but they were still strong. In heavy seas and high winds, HMS Endymion overtook the rest of the British squadron. Endymion was the fastest ship in the Royal Navy.
In the afternoon, Endymion and President began exchanging fire. Endymion was position on President’s starboard quarter. From this position, Endymion engaged President. Decatur attempted to close on Endymion, but he discovered that President’s damage limited her maneuverability.
Decatur ordered bar- and chain-shot to be fired to disable Endymion’s sails and rigging. But President was trapped; Decatur could not escape to the north, as he would have reached the Long Island shore and been forced to the east once more; nor could he escape to the south, as Endymion would most likely slow President enough that the rest of the British squadron would catch up.
Endymion raked President’s hull, then quickly returned to position on President’s quarter where President’s guns could not fire. The broadside sent splinters flying in the President’s deck where Decatur was standing. A large splinter hit him in the chest and knocked him over. Endymion repeated the maneuver three more times and did considerable damage. Decatur had hoped to put Endymion out of the chase and escape, but Endymion aimed into President’s hull, specifically targeting the gun ports. Many members of President’s gun crews were killed or wounded, significantly reducing President’s ability to fire back at Endymion. By contrast, President primarily directed her fire at Endymion’s rigging in order to slow her down.
The President surrendered. Her rigging crippled Endymion ceased fire. Endymion could not immediately take possession, as she had no usable boats. Decatur took advantage of the situation, and made off to escape. Endymion completed repairs and resumed the chase. Pomone and Tenedos came up to the heavily damaged President and fired two ineffective broadsides. At this point, Decatur hailed to say that he had surrendered. Pomone took possession of President. President sustained 24 killed and 55 wounded. Endymion had 11 killed and 14 wounded.
