Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

East and West Africa 1887-1900, 1 clasp, Lake Nyassa 1893 (J. Coghlan, A.B., H.M.S. Adventure.) very fine and rare £3,000-£4,000

K. J. Douglas-Morris Collection, Dix Noonan Webb, October 1996.

Only 28 clasps were awarded to naval European officers and men who manned the boats Adventure and Pioneer. These ships were built at Jarrow-on-Tyne, sent out to Africa in sections, and hauled over two hundred miles through virgin country and jungle to the edge of the lake where they were assembled. This remarkable undertaking, reflected in the appropriate names given to the ships, was in many ways the precursor, or even the inspiration, of the Naval Expedition to Lake Tanganyika in 1915.

John Coghlan was born in Preston, Lancashire, in November 1870. He joined the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class in October 1896 aboard the Boy Training Establishment H.M.S. Impregnable. Rated Boy 1st Class in November 1887, he joined his first ship H.M.S. Royal Adelaide in November 1887. He was transferred to Defence in September 1888, and it was in this ship that Coghlan was advanced to Ordinary Seaman 2nd Class on 10 November 1888. He returned to Royal Adelaide for a short period before joining Mariner in December 1888. Whilst in this ship he advanced to Ordinary Seaman 1st Class in July 1889, and to Able Seaman in July 1891. Coghlan next served aboard the following Ships Victory I (March 1891), Excellent (May 1892), Victory I (April 1893), Raleigh (June 1893), and Adventure (August 1893). In this ship he took part in the action on Lake Nyassa in November 1893. Coghlan returned to Victory I in January 1894 and next joined Active in May 1895. He advanced to Leading Seaman but was disrated to Able Seaman in April 1896. In this rank Coghlan served in the following ships: Victory I (May 1896), Anson (October 1896), again being advanced to Leading Seaman in May 1898, Hibernia (April 1899), Anson (June 1899), Duke of Wellington (February 1900), and Alexandra (April 1900). He joined the Coastguard Service in May 1900 with rank of Boatman and served in the stations at St Mary's, Brixham and Torquay. Coghlan was pensioned ashore in June 1911 and joined Portsmouth R.F.R. He was recalled on 2 August 1914 to H.M.S. Vernon, but released on 19 October to take up a shore appointment in the dockyard. Coghlan’s short active service did not qualify him for the British War Medal.