Some of you will have recognise part of the title, particularly, I suspect, those of you who do cryptic crosswords. Yes Derrick, I’m looking at you.

It may be easier if you recognise the medallions in the header picture. They are easy enough if you have years of sorting through junk boxes, but are more difficult if you don’t. They weren’t the best of quality when they were new, but time has not improved them. The one on the right shows little evidence that anyone with talent was employed in the manufacturing process: the one on the left shows more talent in design and less wear but a modern viewer will still find it tricky. I know what they say, and even then I have trouble reading some of the words.

Admiral Vernon Medal for Portobello – Obv

The admiral in question, Edward Vernon, was nicknamed Old Grog because he habitually wore a cloak made from grogram, a coarse mixed cloth made of wool and silk with a gum stiffening. He was the one that issued the order that all Royal Naval run rations were to be diluted to help prevent drunkenness. It would take a long post to talk about the rum ration, so I won’t. I will just say that Vernon’s nickname became attached to the diluted rum, which became known as grog.

That’s one bit done. How about the next bit? Any echoes of past history lessons coming through? Anyone remember Captain Robert Jenkins? Or the War of Jenkins’ Ear?

Admiral Vernon Medal – Rev

I remember the name of the war, and I remember that Jenkins is supposed to have appeared before parliament and brandished a jar containing the pickled remains of the amputated appendage (sliced off by a Spanish coastguard in the Caribbean) as he demanded retribution. Whether he actually did this or not is a matter of debate, as is the discussion around whether he was smuggling or not. It is a murky area, much like our modern “weapons of mass destruction” debate in the Iraq war.

Eventually, eight years after the incident, King George II issued instructions that reprisals should be taken and Vernon was chosen to be commander.  His naval second-in-command was Commodore Brown, the second figure on the medal with the two men depicted. The “war” was a mixed bag. They famously took Portobello with “six ships only”, in 1739, as the medal says. The victory is commemorated by the areas of Edinburgh and Dublin called Portobello and by the Portobello Road market in London. It also inspired the writing of Rule Britannia!

Admiral Vernon and Commodore Brown Medal – Obv

The expedition also took the port and fortress at Chagres, before moving on to another victory at Cartagena. Well, the medals struck at the time called it a victory. Cartagena was actually a defeat, and a costly one at that.  The Spanish resisted several attacks and then sickness particularly yellow fever, swept through the British forces. By the end of the siege over half the British force was dead or suffering from disease, chiefly yellow fever. The British were able to cope better than some of the newly arrived reinforcements as they already had a year in the tropics to build up some immunity. The “American Regiment” lost nearly 90% of its strength, one of the survivors being Captain Lawrence Washington. On his return he renamed his estate Mount Vernon after his ex-commander, which is how his step-brother George, the revolutionary General, came to live in a house named after a British naval officer.

The British souvenir trade responded with enthusiasm and Admiral Vernon became the most commemorated commoner on British medallions of the 18th Century.  There are over 120 varieties of medallion and they still crop up today – both the examples pictured were bought from junk boxes in the last few weeks.

Admiral Vernon and Commodore Brown Medal – Rev. Note the repaired crack and the broken pin fitting.

One example is very worn,  the other has much more detail, but has been cracked, mended and, at some point, been turned into a brooch. Good examples can make several hundred pounds, but examples like this can be had quite cheaply. One cost me £5 and one was in a bulk lot I bought, which averaged £2 a piece.

I was going to start a regular post called “From the Junk Box” but the junk box is a dying thing and my searches of the last couple of weeks haven’t turned a lot up. To find more junk boxes I may have to travel, and if I’m going to spend more money on fuel it defeats the object of trying to collect on the cheap. I may need a new title. However, when you do find a junk box there is still plenty of history to be had for little money.

Medal on the left is 38mm, medal on the right is 37mm, for those of you who like to know that sort of thing.

This just a brief look at history, but it still runs to over 800 words and doesn’t even touch on the events in Georgia (newly colonised by the British) and Florida, which was still under Spanish control, or Anson’s circumnavigation. So much history, so little time.