• NGS Navarino Medal to Richard Cobby, a Sussex smuggler

 

The NGS Navarino Medal awarded to Richard Cobby, a notorious Sussex smuggler, who served as an impressed Able Seaman aboard HMS Asia, Admiral Sir Edward Codrington’s Flagship, only to later escape to shore and return to smuggling, comprising: Naval General Service Medal, 1793-1840, single clasp, Navarino (Richd Cobby.), officially impressed. Lightly polished, a few surface marks with occasional edge nicks, generally very fine, an extremely rare and fascinating medal. Richard Cobby was born in the parish of St Mary’s in Eastbourne, Sussex, on the 6th of September 1794, the second son of John & Winifred Cobby. The name Cobby would have been well-known and resonant in the area, as one John Cobby (presumably of some relation) had been convicted and hung for smuggling and murder in 1749, having been part of the infamous Hawkhurst Gang. John Cobby’s body had been hung in a gibbet cage from the coastal point of Selsea Bill, to serve as a gruesome warning to others plying this dangerous yet increasing profitable business along the Kent and Sussex coast. Smuggling was rife in the towns of Eastbourne, Rye, Hastings and other such coastal centres of the period, despite the Coastal Blockade. Following in what may have been something of a family trade, we can see confirmed in the Douglas-Morris Roll that Richard Cobby was one of a very small number of captured smugglers known to have been awarded medals for impressed service with the Royal Navy. This was an automatic punishment without trial for able bodied smugglers at the time, such was the demand for experienced sailors to man the ships of the vast British Navy. Richard Cobby came aboard HMS Asia on the 30th of September, 1827, at the age of 33, but the muster does not state specifically from where. It is entirely possible that he was involved in the same series of arrests and subsequent investigations as one Richard Webb (to whom the article ‘A Smugglers Medal’ OMRS 1981, Vol. 3, by Captain Douglas-Morris refers), who was caught smuggling on the 2nd October 1826. HMS Asia was the flagship of Admiral Sir Edward Codrington, and as such Cobby was soon to find himself very much in the thick of it at the Battle of Navarino, which resulted in a major defeat against the joint Ottoman and Egyptian fleets. This was also the final sea battle to be fought entirely under sail. Following the battle of Navarino, Richard Cobby was discharged to HMS Victory on the 6th of February, 1828, and then discharged to HMS Revenge on the 10th of May, 1828, after which time he is no longer found in the muster rolls, presumably having escaped ashore. He may have caught wind of the rumour that impressed smugglers aboard HMS Asia and Glasgow would not be permitted their released for effective service at Navarino, as had occurred for men in a similar position aboard HMS Genoa – rather unfairly. He appears to have quickly found his place again in the smuggling gangs back home, as in the book ‘The Smugglers – Picturesque Chapters in the History of Contraband’ we can find the mention that in the Hastings area of 1832 - ‘the notorious smuggler Cobby has been afloat at night in his duck punt and has, it is to be feared, been employed towing a small number of tubs ashore…’. These tubs would have contained French brandy, as well as tea, tobacco and other produce which were at the time subject to large tax duties. This historical mention appears to confirm his return to smuggling. As a well-known local-smuggler, captured and impressed, forced to fight in a famous naval battle who then later escaped to return to smuggling without subsequent arrest, Cobby would have presumably have been quite notorious in the towns along the Sussex coast. He appears to have continued plying this trade until relatively late in his life. The 1841 Census seems to show him as living in a Hastings cottage with his wife, Ann Cobby, his children and his now aged mother, with his trade listed as ‘Mariner’. He is recorded to have died in September 1859, which curiously is the same date as that of his elder brother. This medal is one of only 7 NGS medals known to have been awarded to impressed Smugglers for Navarino, from a total of 1,137. Only 20 NGS medals are known to have been awarded to impressed smugglers in total, from nearly 18,000 NGS medals issued. Sold with photocopy contemporary roll mention, copy article ‘A Smuggler’s Medal’ by Captain K J Douglas-Morris, several pages of useful genealogical research, copy mention taken from ‘The Smugglers – Picturesque Chapters in the History of Contraband, Vol II’ by by Lord Teignmouth, Commander R.N. & Charles Harper, and a quantity of other useful material. This medal still worthy of further research.