LOT 25 Captain Richard Bowen's 38-gun frigate Terpsichore engaging the mighty 136-gun Spanish 4-decker Santissima Trinidad on 1st March 1797, two weeks after the battle of Cape St. Vincent John Christian Schetky(British, 1778-1874)
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63.5 x 91.5cm (25 x 36in).
John Christian Schetky (British, 1778-1874)
Captain Richard Bowen's 38-gun frigate Terpsichore engaging the mighty 136-gun Spanish 4-decker Santissima Trinidad on 1st March 1797, two weeks after the battle of Cape St. Vincent signed and indistinctly dated 'J C Schetky 18..' (lower right)oil on canvas63.5 x 91.5cm (25 x 36in).
|ProvenanceWith David Messum Fine Art, London.Private collection.After some early successes, notably the battle of the 'Glorious First of June' (1794), the war with Revolutionary France and her allies was not going well for Great Britain as 1796 drew to a close. A Franco-Spanish expedition to Ireland was being prepared and the large but undermanned Spanish fleet was ordered to join its French counterpart already making for Brest. The Spaniards, under Admiral de Cordova, put to sea from Cartagena with twenty-seven ships-of-the-line in company with twelve frigates only to find Admiral Sir John Jervis lying in wait for them off Cape St. Vincent. On 13th February Jervis was joined by Commodore Nelson's squadron and, the following day, he brought the enemy to action in what proved a landmark victory despite the numerical superiority of Cordova's fleet. Aided by Nelson's tactical brilliance at a crucial moment in the battle, Jervis decimated the Spanish fleet and forced the remnants to withdraw to Cadiz. Jervis's flagship H.M.S. Victory emerged triumphant from the action and it was also the first occasion on which Nelson distinguished himself as a commander. Quite early in the battle however, Nelson had noticed that Admiral de Cordova's flagship Santissima Trinidad, the largest wooden ship-of-war ever constructed, was bearing up in an attempt to deploy his windward division to better advantage. Nelson, in H.M.S. Captain, left his station in the line-of-battle and immediately gave chase, thereby setting in motion the chain of events which was destined to give him heroic status back in England. In the event, Nelson's attention was focussed on, firstly, the 112-gun San Josef and, secondly, the 80-gun San Nicholas, leaving other British vessels to deal with the Spanish flagship. Ship after ship engaged the enormous Santissima Trinidad and very nearly took her but for the intervention of Vice-Admiral Moreno, Cordova's second-in-command, who brought his leeward division to her defence.Although Santissima Trinidad ultimately escaped from the scene, she was nevertheless badly damaged and under tow. Once his own fleet and its prizes were safely anchored in Lagos Bay, Jervis sent frigates out to try and find the valuable Spanish four-decker and, after a cat-and-mouse chase lasting almost a fortnight, she was finally engaged by the 38-gun frigate Terpsichore for several hours during the evening of 1st March. Although she proved too large for him to take, Captain Bowen's action was both daring and dangerous, and he received the highest praise from various superior officers, not least Nelson and Jervis. Sadly, his promising career was cut short when he was killed during Nelson' ill-fated attempt to take Santa Cruz de Tenerife in July 1797.
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2018年5月10-13日
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