100967 | UNITED STATES, GREAT BRITAIN, PANAMA & SPAIN. Vernon bronze Medal.

100967 | UNITED STATES, GREAT BRITAIN, PANAMA & SPAIN. Admiral Edward Vernon bronze Medal. Dated 1739. Commemorating the Capture of Porto Bello in Panama. (27mm, 5.12 g, 6h).

 

THE BRITISH GLORY REVIV D BY ADM L VERИOИ, Vernon standing right, holding sword and baton; anchor and canon in background / HE TOOK PORTO BELLO WITH SIX SHIPS OИLY, view of the harbor at Portobelo, with six ships; NOV 22 1739 in exergue. Edge: Plain.

 

Betts 226; Adams-Chao PBvi 26-PP; MI –. Choice Very Fine. Deep brown surfaces, with only even wear on the high points. A charming and attractive smaller sized issue.

 

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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