Naval General Service, clasp, Nassau 22 March 1808 (31 issued)

Naval General Service, clasp, Nassau 22 March 1808 (approx 30 issued)

James Tooth

Prov. Lawson Whalley Collection 1877, Jubilee Collection 1992 ( (A collection formed by one  Mr Whidder, in the 1870/1880s not seeing light of day until  next reappearing  in the ‘Jubilee’ sale at Glendining’s on 27 May 1992- hence the name).

James Tooth , b. Mitcham, Surrey c. 1784, first appears on the Muster Rolls on 22 June , 1803 for the 64 ‘Princess of Orange. From 1809 he served aboard Rota until 1815 during which time Rota was engaged in an action in the Azores against the American privateer ‘General Armstong’.

The Battle of Zealand Point was a naval battle of the English Wars and the Gunboat War. Ships of the Danish and British navies fought off Zealand Point on 22 March 1808

The Dano-Norwegian ship of the line HDMS Prinds Christian Frederik  (74) was stationed in Kristiansand, Norway from 7 August 1807, patrolling waters between Norway and Denmark where Britain had imposed a blockade. In February 1808, Prins Christian Frederik pursued the British ship HMS Quebec into hiding. Having learned of the Danish ship, the British admiralty sent a squadron consisting of HMS Nassau 64 (the former Danish ship-of-the-line Holsteen, taken during the Battle of Copenhagen), HMS Stately, 64 HMS Vanguard, and two brigs, HMS Constant and HMS Kite, to secure the waters. While this was going on Prins Christian Frederik became frozen in at Fredericksværn, near Kristiansand. She therefore did not set sail for Denmark until 4 March.

On Friday 18 March 1808 the crew of HMS Stately was employed cutting passages through the sea ice from their Swedish anchorage to allow Stately and Nassau to go to sea. Their Swedish pilots were discharged the next day when the squadron, comprising the three ships-of-the-line Nassau, Stately, and Vanguard, the frigate HMS Quebec , the two sloops Falcon and HMS Lynx, and the gunbrig Constant, formed up. The smaller ships patrolled the northern approaches to the Great Belt and the Øresund, within sight of the squadron or separately, investigating any strange sail. Quebec and Lynx were in company late on 21 March, then parted company early on 22nd before Quebec identified Prins Christian Frederik near Sejerø. Lynx, and later HMS Falcon, joined with Quebec in Sejerø Bay.

.In the hours before the battle Prins Christian Frederik was within sight of Quebec and Lynx. At 2 pm the sloop, Falcon, who recorded the signal from Quebec “Danish Line-of-battle-ship to windward”, joined them and cleared for action. During the afternoon the Danish ship had reversed course and sailed northward round the reef at the west of Sjællands Odde  and was now headed eastward again, to the north of the land. Shortly after 4 pm Stately and Nassau were sighted to the North East,

Falcon and Nassau’s logs record that at 7:50pm Prinds Christian Frederik fired the first shots when she fired her stern chasers at Nassau, the foremost of her pursuers. By 8:05pm Nassau had drawn level and began returning broadsides, but forty minutes later she was in danger of blocking Stately’s field of fire. Nassau made more sail and moved ahead out of the way as Stately entered the fray. Action continued with the two British ships-of-the-line alternating their attacks until Prinds Christian Frederik struck.At this point Prinds Christian Frederik was aground 300 meters from the shore

Throughout the morning of 23 March the squadron’s boats transported prisoners, and the ships’ companies knotted, spliced, and ran new rigging. At noon, orders were sent to set fire to Prinds Christian Frederick as soon as all the wounded had been removed. The fire was set between 7:30 and 8:00pm and Prinds Christian Frederik blew up shortly before 9:00 pm.