100966 | UNITED STATES, GREAT BRITAIN, PANAMA & SPAIN. Vernon bronze Medal.

100966 | UNITED STATES, GREAT BRITAIN, PANAMA & SPAIN. Admiral Edward Vernon bronze Medal. Dated 1739. Commemorating Fort Chagre and the Capture of Porto Bello in Panama. (39mm, 16.24 g, 6h).

 

HATH OИCE MORE REVIV D THE BRITISH GLORY, Vernon standing facing, head turned slightly right, holding baton and resting hand on hip; in two lines in exergue, THE HOИ EDWARD / VERИOИ ESQ / BY THE TAKEING OF PORTO BELLO WITH SIX SHIPS OИLY ИOV 22 1739, view of the harbor at Portobelo, with six ships. Edge: Plain.

 

Betts 275; Adams-Chao FCv 5-D; MI 548/154. Choice Very Fine. Warm brown surfaces, with only even wear on the high points.

 

A pivotal naval base for Spanish forces in the new world, Porto Bello (now styled Portobelo in the Colón Province of Panama) allowed for persistent harassment of British ships by their Spanish counterparts throughout the Caribbean. In 1739, British vice admiral Edward Vernon boasted that he could take the port with a fleet of just six ships and, in November of that year, did just that—a feat which garnered him tremendous popular acclaim and an issuance of numerous medals (such as the present piece) in his honor. This decisive naval engagement was a part of the War of Jenkins' Ear, itself a subset of the War of the Austrian Succession (the genesis of another conflict—the French and Indian War in the North American theater).

 

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