'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎532] (551/622)

532 HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAYY.
medals were given for services in Ceylon, in 1795-96. As the
ships of the then Bombay Marine The navy of the East India Company. were engaged in all these
operations, and some officers, as the late Sir John Hayes, served
both ashore and afloat, the Service participated in the award
of these honourable distinctions. Passing over the medal
awarded for the storm of Seringapatam, in 1799, a large portion
of the Service gained the next medal awarded by the Company,
that given in 1801, for the Egyptian Campaign. Ihe Bombay
Marine also received the medal for the conquest of Mauritius,
in 1810, and of Java,* in the following year. They did not,
of course, participate in the Nepaul Campaign, in 1816, but a
large portion of the Service received the medal awarded for the
Burmese War, of 1824-26, which is suspended from a crimson
ribbon, w 7 ith a blue edge. On the obverse, is the white elephant
of Ava crouching before the British lion, behind which is the
Union Jack unfurled, and behind the elephant the drooping
flag of Burmah. On the reverse the troops are advancing
towards a pagoda, enclosed within a stockade, while a steamer
and flotilla of gunboats are attacking from the Irrawaddy. In the
foreground Sir Archibald Campbell is directing the operations.
The Company instituted medals for Ghuznee, Candahar, Jel-
lalabad, and Cabul, there being no less than five varieties tor the
Afghan War of 1839-42; but though the ships of the Indian
Navy were engaged at the capture of Kurrachee and the occu
pation of Kharrack, obviously they could not lay claim to any
of these decorations. For the medal struck by the Home
Government, in commemoration of the first China War oi
1840-42, the Service could show an undeniable claim, as the
4 Atalanta,' 6 Sesostris,' 6 Auckland,' 4 Medusa,' and other vessels,
took a prominent part in the hostilities. The China Medal,
like all those issued during the present reign, bears, on the
obverse, the head of the Queen, and, on the reverse, a palm tree,
against which is placed a shield, bearing the arms of England,
also cannon, anchor, flag, and the motto, " Armis. exposcere
vacemr Exergue^ (or at the foot of the medal) is the word
^ China," and the date "1842." The ribbon by which it is sus
pended, is crimson, with yellow edges.
Captain Nott and the officers and men of the Indus tlotiila
were awarded the ScindeWar Medal, which has, on the obverse,
* It was not until the 1st of June, 1847, that the Home Government granted
war medals to those officers and men of the Army and Navy who ^d se r
" during the wars commencing in 1793, and ending m 1814. Clasps
for the most memorable battles and sieges, "Java" being rncluded for bom
services. The Naval war medal bears on the obverse the Queen s head ,ando
the reverse, Britannia seated on a sea-horse, holding a trident m her rig >
and an olive branch in her left. ^ word "
f JExerque, which is derived from two Greek words, signifying out ot wora,
is the small space beneath the base line of a subject engraved on a com,
and usually contains an inscription of the date, place, or other subsid y
of the coin or medal.