λ The Lloyd's Patriotic Fund Sword of £50 value...

λ The Lloyd's Patriotic Fund Sword of £50 value to Lieutenant Robert Carthew Reynolds of H.M.S. Centaur for the capture of the French corvette Curieux in the cutting out action of 4th February 1804 at Fort Royal harbour, Martinique; in the course of which action he was mortally wounded: curved blade 30.25 in. with broad fullers, richly blued and gilt with the Royal cypher and arms, Britannia, a naval crown, naval trophies, and the presentation inscription in gold to a panel of blue: "FROM THE PATRIOTIC FUND AT LLOYDS TO LT. ROBT. CARTHEW REYNOLDS OF H.M.S. CENTAUR, WHO WITH THE BOAT FROM THAT SHIP ON THE 4TH FEBRY 1804 IN THE MOST BRAVE AND GALLANT MANNER BOARDED AND BROUGHT OUT THE FRENCH CORVETTE CURIEUX FROM UNDER THE GUNS OF FORT EDWARD IN THE HARBOUR OF FORT ROYAL, MARTINIQUE AS RECORDED IN THE LONDON GAZETTE OF THE 1ST MAY" - all amid foliate plumes and scrolls; the ormulu stirrup hilt with quillons formed as a fasces, the knuckle bow as Hercules' club entwined by a serpent, the back strap as the Nemian Lion, the quillon block with applied trophies of arms, the langets of acanthus form, the grip of finely chequered ivory; in its gilt-brass mounted scabbard, the locket, band and chape with naval trophies to each side accommodating medallions depicting the labours of Hercules, the scabbard edges between these mountings bound with gilt brass to form scalloped panels in the intervening space, the mouth engraved 'R TEED SWORD CUTLER LANCASTER COURT STRAND', the two loose suspension rings with fine rope-twist detail.

Ivory Act registration reference: UUUYSY92

From the estate of a deceased private collector.

The French colony of Martinique, which France had previously lost to the British but regained by the treaty of Amiens in 1802, became a focus for Anglo-French hostilities when war broke out again in May 1803. H.M.S. Centaur, a 74 gun third rate ship of the line, was the flagship of Commodore Sir Samuel Hood when he was assigned command in the Leeward Islands, and she took part in numerous actions, as well as in the establishment of a battery of guns on Diamond Rock. In the early morning of the 4th February 1804, she sent four boats with sixty seamen and twelve marines under the command of Lieutenant Reynolds to cut out the Curieux, a corvette of sixteen six pounders, from the Carénage under the guns of Fort Royal. Boarding on the quarters, the British initially met with stiff resistance but according to Hood* "the spirited and superior valour of this brave officer [Reynolds] and his supporters drove them forward, where a second stand was made, which was carried with equal gallantry". The wounded French captain, Cordier, escaped; and the casualty figures bear witness to the ferocity of the British assault: nine wounded and killed on the British side, and forty on the French. Reynolds brought his prize out, and she was commissioned as H.M.S. Curieux with he as her first commander. Very sadly, however, he did not recover from the severe wounds - five in number - that he had sustained as the price of his great gallantry, and he died on Diamond Rock in September of that year.

*Quoted in the London Gazette, No 15697, May 1st 1804.