Newly acquired by the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich is the uniform of an officer in the French Imperial Customs Service (Les Douanes) worn by a Naval midshipman during his escape from Napoleonic France.

The son of a naval officer in Lincolnshire, Charles Hare had joined the Royal Navy at the age of 11 in 1801 and was serving as a naval midshipman on board the ship Minerva when it was captured off Cherbourg in 1803.

Along with the other officers, Hare, just 13-years-old, was sent to a the walled town of Verdun which served as a prison depot and allowed to live within the walls on parole. In 1806, however, he was transferred to the prison fortress of Sarre Libre (now Saarlouis in modern Germany).

On 12th August, 1809, Hare – now aged 19 and wearing the above mentioned uniform which includes a dark green coat with stripes of silver lace at the collar and a shako, a tall and cylindrical military cap featuring a plume of green and white feathers – made his escape from Sarre Libre.

He travelled by carriage to Mainz and then took a number of boats along the Rhine including on a barge hosting a wedding where he had to join in the drinking of brandy and singing. He eventually reached the port of Rotterdam in what is now The Netherlands.

On the 25th August, fishermen rowed Hare and his dog out to the British warship Royal Oak which was involved in a blockade of the Dutch coast. A few days later he sailed back to Britain where later that month Hare was reunited with his mother and sisters (his father had died in the year he joined the Navy) in the village of Fillingham, Lincolnshire.

Astonishingly, along with the uniform, the museum was also able to acquire a hand-written account of Hare’s escape which he apparently wrote for his young son George.

In it, Hare talks about the risk he was taking in wearing a “military habit” (he could have been executed as a spy if discovered) and his pet English terrier dog which he had been given while at Verdun and which accompanied him throughout the escape.

Hare soon returned to his career in the navy and eventually settled in Canada.

Following conservation work, the uniform – the most complete surviving example of its type from the Napoleonic era – can be how seen in the Nelson, Navy, Nation gallery at the National Maritime Museum.

WHERE: Nelson, Navy, Nation gallery at the National Maritime Museum, Romney Road, Greenwich (nearest DLR is Cutty Sark; nearest train stations are Greenwich and Maze Hill); WHEN: 10am to 5pm daily; COST: Free (booking recommended): WEBSITE: rmg.co.uk.