Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson's Embroidered Breast Stars of the Imperial Ottoman Order of the Crescent

Following Lord Nelson’s defeat of the French fleet at the battle of the Nile in August 1798, the Grand Seignior of the Ottoman Empire, Selim III, wrote to the British Minister of the Sublime Porte (Ottoman Court), stating that it was his intention to reward those officers who had made this "joyful event" possible. Such rewards normally took the form of personal gifts, as in the case of Lord Nelson receiving a splendid Diamond Aigrette and a Sable Fur with broad sleeves, but given the number of potential recipients on this occasion, the British Minister humbly recommended that Selim might consider instituting a special Order of Chivalry based on European precedents, a proposal that was ultimately accepted. Lord Nelson became the very first recipient of the newly established Order, being graded a "Knight Companion of the Imperial Ottoman Order of the Crescent".​

Size 90 x 85 mm.
Thickness 5 mm.

Collection of National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London.

 

Size115 x 85 mm.

Collection of National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London.

 

Vice-admiral's undress coat worn by Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar. There is a bullet hole on the left shoulder, close to the epaulette. The damage to the epaulette itself is also apparent. There are bloodstains on the tails and left sleeve, which are probably those of Nelson's secretary, John Scott, killed earlier in the action. The coat is of blue wool cloth with a stand-up collar and button-back lapels. On the left side, Nelson's four orders of chivalry - Knight of the Bath, Order of the Crescent, Order of St Ferdinand and Merit and Order of St Joachim-are sewn to the front of the coat and over the edge of the lapel so that it could not be unbuttoned. The sleeves terminate in an extremely narrow round cuff with two rows of gold distinction lace and three flag-officer's buttons. The left sleeve is completely lined with black silk twill but the right is lined with the same fabric only as far as the elbow. At the end of the right sleeve is a small black silk loop which secured the unused sleeve to a lapel button. The tails and breast are lined with white silk twill and the shoulders are quilted with running stitch.​

Wool, silk, brass, metal thread, gold alloy.

Collection of National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London.

 

Size 122 x 77 mm.
Weight 30 g.

Collection of the Musée de la Légion d'honneur, Paris.

 

Two breast stars from the Lloyd’s Nelson Collection. Both stars were presented to Lloyd’s by Percy Hargreaves in 1931.