ROYAL NAVY INTEREST - A set of five silver teaspoons, Peter and William Bateman, London 1807, engraved with the monogrammed initials of Captain Samuel Burgess, 13cm long.

Provenance: Purchased by the present vendor in 2008, from a broken-up collection of Trafalgar-period naval items. Sold together with a handwritten transcript with a potted history of Captain Burgess, which reads, in part 'Samuel Burgess had a long and colourful service with the Royal Navy, including being involved at the Battle of Trafalgar. He was born on the 9th September, 1781 in Somerset, and entered the Navy in March 1790, age 9, as a servant to his father who was then a senior Lieutenant on H.M.S Berwick ... The National Archive records show that from 1799 to November 1820, he served on 16 ships and that on the 18th November 1799, promotion to Lieutenant was achieved, through to Commander on the 24th January 1817 and finally as Captain on board H.M.S Thetis on the 26th November, 1820

Whilst on board H.M.S Berwick, at some point during the eight month period on-board, he feel from the cockpit into the coal hole and received a severe head injury. In September 1793 he re-entered the service as a midshipman on board H.M.S Impregnable. Samuel was stationed at Guernsey during 1803-04. After being involved in the blockading of Brest Harbour in 1801 and during the time spent patrolling the French coast, his ship carried out the capture of over 60 French merchant vessels.

The official register for the ships and sailors involved in the Battle of the Trafalgar, on the 21st October 1805, confirms that Samuel was Lieutenant on board H.M.S Prince. Apparently, the ship took over two hours to cover the 2-3 miles to reach the battle - evidently she was recognised as a poor sailor and said like a haystack. By the time she arrived, most of the enemy fleet was in British hands or had fled. However, this 98 gun, second-rate ship, did fire on the Spanish flagship, Principe de Asturias and on the French ship Achilles, but was not attacked and suffered no casualties.'