Diameter: 51.5mm
Provenance:
Capitaine Jean-Jacques Magendie (1766-1835)
Captain James Atcherley, RM (1772-1836)
French silver verge fusee watch of the French Revolutionary period, probably Paris, circa 1795, with white enamel dial, black minute track, gilt movement with ornate engraving, polished case engraved verso ‘Capt. / Magendie / surrendered this watch / aboard Bucentaure / 21st oct 1805 / James Atcherly [sic] / Capt RM.’
At about 2pm on 21 October 1805, as Nelson lay dying on the orlop deck of HMS Victory, Captain James Atcherley of the Royal Marines secured his place in history by boarding the dismasted flagship of the Combined Fleets of France and Spain to make prisoners of the enemy commander Admiral Pierre de Villeneuve and his immediate staff. It was to prove the high point in Atcherley’s life, when after the battle he succumbed to his baser instincts, deserting his wife and children, fathering six further children out of wedlock before being condemned to the King’s Bench prison for debt. In the words of his long-suffering wife Christiana, ‘… it was impossible, his habits were so expensive, fond of cards, dogs, & horses, which never can answer upon an officer’s pay.’ Under such circumstances it is easy to see how Captain Magendie’s pocket watch might have served as easy currency for a deserted wife or a gambler fresh out of luck at the card table or at the racecourse.
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The following account of Atcherley’s interaction with his prisoners on 21 October 1805 is taken from Sir Edward Fraser’s ‘The Enemy at Trafalgar: an account of the battle from eye-witnesses’ narratives and letters and despatches from the French and Spanish fleets’, (1906).
‘At the moment of the Bucentaure’s submission, Captain [Israel] Pellew, as it happened, was unable to spare Lieutenant Couch, his first lieutenant, to whom, in ordinary circumstances, the duty of boarding the prize would have fallen. Being unaware, owing to the absence of Villeneuve’s flag from the Bucentaure’s masthead, that the enemy’s Commander-in-Chief had surrendered to him, he told Captain James Atcherley, of the Conqueror’s marines, to go in the first lieutenant’s place and take possession of the vessel, whose name also, it would seem, they did not know. Captain Atcherley went off with two seamen and a corporal and two marines. He was pulled alongside and clambered on board the big two-decker, little dreaming whom he was going to meet, and the reception in store for him. This is what then took place.
‘As Atcherley gained the Bucentaure’s upper deck and the British officer’s red coat showed itself on the quarter-deck of the French flagship, four French officers of rank stepped forward, all bowing and presenting their swords. One was a tall, thin man of about forty-two, in a French admiral’s full dress. It was Villeneuve himself. The second was a French captain Captain Magendie, in command of the Bucentaure. The third was Flag-Captain Prigny, Villeneuve’s right-hand man. The fourth was a soldier, in the brilliant uniform somewhat begrimed by powder-smoke of a brigadier of the Grand Army, General de Contamine, the officer in charge of the four thousand troops serving on board the French Fleet that day.
“To whom,” asked Admiral Villeneuve, in good English, “have I the honour of surrendering?”
“To Captain Pellew of the Conqueror.”
“I am glad to have struck to the fortunate Sir Edward Pellew.”
“It is his brother, sir,” said Captain Atcherley.
“His brother! What! Are there two of them? Helas!”
“Fortune de la guerre,” said Captain Magendie with a shrug of his wide shoulders as he became a prisoner of war to the British Navy for the third time in his life. Prigny and de Contamine said nothing, as far as we know.
Captain Atcherley politely suggested that the swords of such high officers had better be handed to an officer of superior rank to himself, to Captain Pellew. He then went below to secure the magazines, passing between decks amid an awful scene of carnage and destruction.
‘The dead, thrown back as they fell, lay along the middle of the decks in heaps, and the shot, passing through these, had frightfully mangled the bodies. . . . More than four hundred had been killed and wounded, of whom an extraordinary proportion had lost their heads. A raking shot, which entered in the lower deck, had glanced along the beams and through the thickest of the people, and a French officer declared that this shot alone had killed or disabled nearly forty men.’
‘Atcherley locked up the magazines and put the keys in his pocket, posted his two marines as sentries at the doors of the admiral’s and flag-captain’s cabins, and then, returning on deck, he conducted Villeneuve, Magendie, and Flag-Captain Prigny down the side into his little boat, which rowed off in search of the Conqueror. That ship, however, had ranged ahead to engage another enemy, and as her whereabouts could not be discovered in the smoke, the prisoners were temporarily placed on board the nearest British ship, which happened to be the Mars. There Admiral Villeneuve’s sword was received by Lieutenant Hennah, the senior surviving officer of the ship (the gallant captain of the Mars, George Duff, had fallen a short time before), who sent it after the battle to Collingwood.’
Villeneuve’s sword remained in the Collingwood family until 1899 when it was auctioned by Christies. It was exhibited at the Royal United Services institute in Whitehall and formed part of the Nelson Museum collection bequeathed by Lady Georgiana Llangattock to the town of Monmouth in 1923. Villeneuve became a prisoner in England and attended Nelson’s state funeral in January 1806. He was released on parole in April the same year and returned to France, but was later found dead at an inn while en route to Paris with six stab wounds to his chest. He was possibly the victim of a state sponsired murder but on It was concluded at the time that he had committed suicide.
Captain James Atcherley (c.1775-18) was the youngest son of the Reverend James Atcherley, Headmaster of Shrewsbury School, under whom the institution is said to have declined. No record of James’s baptism is known. In 1792 he was articled to a Shropshire attorney but following the outbreak of war with revolutionary France he gave up the law and was appointed Second Lieutenant in 1794 in the Royal Marines. In May of that year he was in the frigate HMS Hussar (28-guns) off the coast of North America in Chesapeake Bay when he ‘distinguished himself in her action with four French ships, and the capture of La Raison and Prevoyante’ - both which were taken in to the Royal Navy. Promoted Lieutenant in April 1795 and Captain in August 1804, he joined the 74-gun HMS Conqueror (Captain Israel Pellew) which at Trafalgar was the fourth ship in the Nelson’s weather column behind Victory as it cut through the Franco-Spanish line. On passing the stern of Bucentaure Conqueror had just raked her with a port broadside adding to the carnage already inflicted by the three-deckers Victory, Temeraire and Neptune. In all, according to a statement made later by Major-General de Contamine, the Bucentaure was fired into for nearly two hours and by a total of 11 British ships. The victim of this barrage was dismasted, leaving her not only dead in the water but also defenceless as her masts and sails had fallen across her gun batteries. Villeneuve had little choice but to surrender in order to prevent further loss of life.
Atcherley was wounded at Trafalgar and received £50 from Lloyds Patriotic Fund for his injuries. He also benefited from Prize Money of £65.11s. 5d. At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, he abandoned Christaina whom he had married in 1802, and their two children leaving them at Stonehouse, Plymouth. He then fathered several children with one Sarah Perkins at Southwark, London, Despite her abandonment Christiana fought hard to obtain financial support from Atcherley, while denying him the opportunity to squander her small Scottish inheritance. Atcherley meanwhile pursued his various sporting interests as attested by ‘Memoirs of the Life and Adventures of Colonel Maceroni’, (2 vols., London: 1838) wherein the author ‘was in company with Mr. Steuart and Captain Atcherly [sic] of the British Royal Marines’ on a shooting expedition in Tuscany.
Finally, as Christiana put it, Atcherley was ‘thrown into the Bench’. debtors’ prison in Southwark, on 8 September 1810, at the suit of three men: William Mitchell, James Dickie, and George Kempster Esqr (the last-named was a fellow Captain of the Royal Marines). The plaintiffs charged Atcherley with debts of £12 ‘and upwards’, £22 9s 8d, and £289 10s respectively, a total exceeding £323 19s 8d.
During his imprisonment it was the long-suffering Christiana who was instrumental in sparing him the loss of his commission in the Royal Marines by procuring ‘Retirement on full Pay’ on 15 May 1811 through the influence of well placed friends and relatives. Notices relating to Atcherley’s discharge from the Bench were published in the London Gazette in July 1811, when he was described as being ‘formerly of Plymouth, in the County of Devon, but late of Chatham, in the County of Kent, Captain of Marines.’ Atcherley was discharged from the King’s Bench some nine months after his committal, having provided an account of his assets for the settlement of his debts under the Act for the Relief of certain Insolvent Debtors in England.
At the battle of Trafalgar Capitaine Jean-Jacques Magendie was the captain of French flagship Bucentaure and the flag officer to Admiral Pierre de Villeneuve. In contrast to his admiral, Madendie born in Bordeaux and served briefly in the French Royal Navy from 1781, before rising later sailed on merchant ships, raising to second captain and distinguishing himself to the point where he was mentioned in a June 1793 meeting of the National Convention. He was brought into Navy service with the rank of ensign and given command of a cutter patrolling off the coasts of England and Ireland. In 1794, he captained the cutter Ranger, and the corvette Espion[2][3][Note 1] from July. On 4 March 1795, the British frigate Lively captured Espion about 13 leagues off Ushant.[4]
Released, Magendie returned to France, where the court-martial acquitted him for the loss of his ship. In March 1796, he was promoted to commander, and in September received the command of the Tartu. He took part in the early stages of the Expédition d'Irlande, but on 5 January 1797, Tartu she was captured by HMS Polyphemus.[1]
Magendie was again taken prisoner. He returned to France in September 1798, and was again cleared of any wrongdoing in the less of his ship. He then served as first officer on the brand new Africaine, Tasked with ferrying ammunition for the Armée d'Orient.[1]
Magendie, produced a plan of the battle, which is probably the most reliable source for the order of the Allied line.
In March 1796, he was promoted to commander, and in September received the command of the Tartu. He took part in the early stages of the Expédition d'Irlande, but on 5 January 1797, Tartu she was captured by HMS Polyphemus.[1]
Magendie was again taken prisoner. He returned to France in September 1798, and was again cleared of any wrongdoing in the less of his ship. He then served as first officer on the brand new Africaine, under captain Pierre-Félix de Lapalisse. Upon her return, Africaine joined up with Régénérée and was put under the command of captain Saunier. Tasked with ferrying ammunition for the Armée d'Orient.[1]
Split from Régénérée by a storm, Africaine encountered HMS Phoebe, under Captain Robert Barlow, east of Gibraltar. Phoebe, which had the weather gage, overtook Africaine and engaged her at close range, despite the French soldiers, who augmented the frigate's guns with their musket fire. Phoebe's guns inflicted more than 340 casualties on the soldiers and seaman of Africaine before she struck at 9:30PM.[5] Magendie sustained a head injury and was captured for the third time.
Released from Minorca, Magendie returned to France in March 1801. In September, he was given command of the Minerva in Napoli, sailed her to Toulon where she took the name Sibylle, and from then took part in a variety of missions. He distinguished himself during the capture of Santo Domingo, earning the provisory rank of captain. After returning to France, he sailed to Naples to surrender his frigate to the Napolitan government, as ordered.[1]
Trafalgar campaign
In October 1803, Magendie was tasked to supervise the commissioning of Bucentaure. After she entered service, he became her captain and flag officer to Vice-Admiral Latouche Tréville, who died on board on 18 August 1804, and then to Vice-Admiral Villeneuve.[1]
Magendie then took part in the Trafalgar Campaign, notably the Battle of Cape Finisterre. Magendie captained Bucentaure at the Battle of Trafalgar, where he was wounded in the mouth and captured.[1][6]
Released on parole in February 1806, he returned to France, where he worked at the Ministry of the Navy.[1]
Peninsula wars
In December 1807, he was sent to Lisbon and tasked with supervising the naval activities of the harbour. In August 1808, by the Convention of Sintra, the defeated French troops were allowed to return to France and Magendie was ferried on HMS Nymphe.[1]
He worked in various duties on shore and at the ministry until October 1810, when he was again sent to besieged Lisbon to command the naval forces there. The city did not fall, however, and Magendie stayed in Portugal until June 1811.[1]
He supervised the commissioning of Trajan, before commanding the Ajax in Toulon. In February 1812, he took part in a skirmish between three ships of the line and two frigates against one ship and two frigates.[1]
Late career and retirement
At the Bourbon Restoration, Ajax was decommissioned and Magendie was task with the supervision of Toulon harbour. During the Hundred Days, Ajax was reactivated with Magendie for captain. He was consequently dismissed from the Navy at the Second Restoration, and retired.[1]
From 1821, he directed a steamboat service between Paris and Le Havre.[1]