c. 1820 Captain James Biddle Naval Medal, Struck in Bronze at the United States Mint, 65 mm, Julian NA-5, Commemorating the Capture of HMS Penguin by the USS Hornet, by Moritz Furst, NGC graded MS-62.


Naval medal issued by Congress resolved to award Captain James Biddle for his 1815 victory over HMS Penguin. The Obverse: right-facing bust of Biddle in uniform, encircled by “THE CONGRESS OF THE U.S. TO CAPT. JAMES BIDDLE / FOR HIS GALLANTRY GOOD CONDUCT AND SERVICES”, signed be engraver FURST. in the field. The Reverse: depicts the two naval vessels engaged in battle off a mountainous island, with the legend “CAPTURE OF THE BRITISH SHIP PENGUIN BY THE U.S. SHIP HORNET, and in the exergue, OFF TRISTAN D'ACUNHA MARCH XXIIII MDCCCXV.”

This medal is one of twenty-seven authorized by Congress to honor American naval and military successes of the War of 1812, engraved chiefly by the Hungarian-American medalist Moritz Furst; the original awards were struck in gold for commanding officers and silver for their subordinate officers, with bronze examples such as this one struck later at the U.S. Mint from the original dies.
Captain James Biddle's action came on March 23, 1815, when Hornet, en route to a prearranged rendezvous at Tristan da Cunha, encountered and engaged the British brig-sloop Penguin. The American gunnery proved far more effective, and Penguin struck her colors after roughly twenty minutes, having lost her commander, James Dickinson, and ten men killed to a single American death.

The engagement was among the last of the War of 1812, fought after the Treaty of Ghent had already been signed the previous December but before news of peace reached either ship. Biddle went on to a long naval career, later negotiating the First Treaty between the United States and China in 1844, and leading an early American naval mission to Japan in 1846.

This engagement was one of the last actions of the War of 1812, fought after the Treaty of Ghent had already been signed in December 1814, but before word reached these ships in the remote South Atlantic (the same circumstance that produced the Battle of New Orleans).

Biddle's victory was decisive: Hornet's gunnery badly outmatched Penguin's despite the ships being closely matched in size, and the British captain, James Dickinson, was killed in the action.