Orders, Decorations and Medals

Naval General Service 1793-1840, 1 clasp, 14 Dec Boat Service 1814 (Evan Morris) some minor edge bruising, otherwise very fine £800-1000

Confirmed as a Private, Royal Marines, serving aboard H.M.S. Norge. Another man with this name is shown on the roll as a Private R.M. aboard Cambrian at Navarino.

Evan Morris was a native of Llandillovour, Carmarthen, Wales, and enlisted in the Royal Marines on 28 January 1814. He joined the Norge on 9 August 1814, and took part in the boat action against the guard ships near New Orleans on 14 December 1814. Some 1,000 sailors and marines in 45 boats from 22 British ships took part in this, the largest boat action represented by a clasp on the Naval General Service Medal. The American guard ships were generally small sloops, each carrying one gun, patrolling the western edge of Lake Borgne, six miles east of New Orleans. They were very low in the water and therefore easily boarded by the British ship’s boats which rowed 36 miles to engage the enemy. The complete success of the operation led to the capture of New Orleans.