Lot Essay
The published Naval General Service Medal rolls confirm John Wigginton as a Private in the Royal Marines aboard the Monarch for the Boat Service action of 16.7.1806, one of just 51 recipients of this clasp recorded on the Admiralty roll.
'Commodore Sir Samuel Hood did good service, while in command of a Squadron of six Sail-of-the-Line off Rochefort. On 15 July [1806], 12 boats of the Squadron cut out from the mouth of the Gironde, with great gallantry, the 16-gun Brig Caesar, with the heavy loss of 11 Officers and men killed, and 40 wounded. On the 25th, Sir Samuel Hood fell in with five large French Frigates, and captured four of them, after a spirited resistance, during which the Monarch, Centaur and Mars, not being able to open their lower-deck ports, owing to heavy weather, suffered severely in rigging and spars, and lost seven Officers and men killed, and 30 wounded, including the Commodore, whose arm was shattered' (Great Battles of the British Navy, by Lieutenant C.R. Low, R.N., refers).
'Commodore Sir Samuel Hood did good service, while in command of a Squadron of six Sail-of-the-Line off Rochefort. On 15 July [1806], 12 boats of the Squadron cut out from the mouth of the Gironde, with great gallantry, the 16-gun Brig Caesar, with the heavy loss of 11 Officers and men killed, and 40 wounded. On the 25th, Sir Samuel Hood fell in with five large French Frigates, and captured four of them, after a spirited resistance, during which the Monarch, Centaur and Mars, not being able to open their lower-deck ports, owing to heavy weather, suffered severely in rigging and spars, and lost seven Officers and men killed, and 30 wounded, including the Commodore, whose arm was shattered' (Great Battles of the British Navy, by Lieutenant C.R. Low, R.N., refers).