QUEEN VICTORIA.
(Reverse.)
EDWARD VII.
(Obverse.)
NAVAL LONG SERVICE AND GOOD CONDUCT MEDALS.
The following British ships were engaged: the flagship "Asia," "Albion," "Genoa," "Glasgow," "Cambrian," "Dartmouth," and "Talbot," and the brigs "Brisk," "Mosquito," "Philomel," and "Rose." There were 4 French ships of the line, a frigate and a schooner, and 5 Russian ships of the line and 3 frigates.
Hereafter the history of the British Navy and its engagements was, until 1914, confined to the bombardment of ports, or combined with that of the army in land service.
Syria.—Mehemet Ali, Pasha of Egypt, had in 1839 defeated the Turkish armies and made himself master of Syria, and, as has happened often since, Great Britain went to the sick man's aid, co-operating with Austria, Russia, and Prussia, to compel the recalcitrant Pasha to accept the Vice-Royalty and be satisfied with the governorship of Syria for his lifetime. An ultimatum was sent to him and his generals to the effect that Syria was to be restored to the government of the Sultan of Turkey within twenty-one days, but as no notice was taken of the demand, a squadron of British ships blockaded Alexandria, in the harbour of which the Egyptian fleet was at anchor, while the other portion of the fleet, under Admiral Sir Robert Stopford, bombarded Beyrout. Meanwhile, the towns on the coast of Syria had been retaken, Tyre captured on September 24th and Sidon on the 27th. Concentrating at Acre, the Egyptians were worsted there on November 2nd, and the war was brought to a conclusion by Mehemet Ali accepting the terms he had originally refused.
The Sultan's Medal for Acre.—To the officers and men a medal, illustrated facing page [292], was awarded; to the officers ranking as field officers in gold, in silver to quarter-deck and warrant officers, and in bronze to petty officers, seamen, and marines.
The following ships were engaged in the operations upon the coast of Syria in the years 1840-41: "Princess Charlotte," "Powerful," "Revenge," "Bellerophon," "Thunderer," "Ganges," "Benbow," "Edinburgh," "Hastings," "Vanguard," "Rodney," "Asia," "Implacable," "Cambridge," "Pique," "Castor," "Dido," "Carysfort," "Talbot," "Daphne," "Cyclops," "Wasp," "Magicienne," "Vesuvius," "Gorgon," "Hazard," "Phœnix," "Hydra," "Stromboli," "Medea," "Zebra," and "Hecate."