The Naval General Service medal for Gut of Gibraltar 1801 awarded to Commander Poynter...

The Naval General Service medal for Gut of Gibraltar 1801 awarded to Commander Poynter Crane, Royal Navy, who was shipwrecked when just 14 years old off Ushant in March 1800 and made prisoner of the French, and again taken prisoner for four months following a gale off Norway in May 1813 Naval General Service 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Gut of Gibraltar 12 July 1801 (P. Crane, Midshipman.) good very fine £3,000-£4,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Glendining’s, July 1929; Colin Message Collection, August 1999. Poynter Crane was born on 5 June 1786, son of Edward Crane, Esq., Coroner for the city of Norwich. He entered the Navy on 1 February 1798, as Midshipman, on board the Repulse 64, Captain James Alms, in which ship he beheld the capture, in 1799, of three French frigates by a part of the Mediterranean squadron under Lord Keith, and was wrecked, near Ushant, 10 March 1800. Her people, except 12 who reached Guernsey in a boat, were all made prisoners, and he was obliged to spend a short while as a prisoner in France. He afterwards joined Captain Richard Goodwin Keats in the Boadicea 38, and, continuing to serve with that officer until October 1805 in the Superb 74, took a warm part in the victory gained by Sir James Saumarez over the Franco-Spanish squadron, near Cadiz, 12 July 1801, and accompanied Lord Nelson in his pursuit of the combined fleets to the West Indies during the summer of 1805. He next served for some months in the North Sea and Baltic, on board the Roebuck 44, Captain George M‘Kinley, and Alert 18, Captain Robtert Williams; was appointed, 31 October 1806, Acting Sub-Lieutenant of the Havock gun-brig, Lieut.-Commander William Richard Bamber, in which he escorted Major-General Clinton on a visit of inspection to the different ports of Prussia; and on 12 July 1807, was officially promoted to the full rank of Lieutenant, and appointed to the Resolution 74, Captain George Burlton. After a brief attachment to the Forester 18, Captain R. Richards, he assumed command, 13 August 1808, of the Irresistible prison-ship in the river Medway, where he remained until January 1812. In March of the latter year he joined the Reynard 18, Captains Hew Steuart, George Brine, and David St. Clair; in which vessel he served at the defence of Riga, and conveyed, as Acting-Commander, the despatches announcing the eventual discomfiture of the French to Rear-Admiral Morris, off Carlscrona. He was subsequently, on 12 May 1813, while in command of a prize, driven by a gale into Frederickstad, in Norway, where he was detained a prisoner for some months. In September following he joined, as Senior Lieutenant, the Brisk 18, Captain Henry Higman, and in that vessel and the Ariel 18, Captain Daniel Ross, he was actively employed on the Irish and African coasts until December 1814. Mr. Crane was next appointed, 6 November 1815, to the Bulwark 74, flag-ship at the Nore of Sir Charles Rowley, and, 14 March 1817, to the command of the Asp Revenue-cutter. He was paid off the latter vessel in April 1818. He was placed on the junior list of retired Commanders on 6 April 1843, and on the senior 2 May 1856. Commander Crane received a medal for the victory of 12 July 1801. He married, 2 May 1809, Urania Hoare, daughter of E. Weekes, Esq., of the Hon. E.I. Co’s, service, by whom he has issue six sons and two daughters. One of the former, Benjamin Henry, is a Midshipman in the Indian Navy. Commander Poynter Crane died at Norwich on 20 July 1878.