Views of naval engagements and maps of battles
Views of naval engagements and maps of battles
Aquatint with etching and engraving; printed on paper | 33.5 x 45.5 cm (image) | RCIN 735129
A view of the East India Company's ship Warren Hastings just before being brought into action with the French frigate Piedmontaise on 21 June 1806 near the Cape of Good Hope. Napoleonic Wars (1803-15).
One of a pair of views representing the East Indiaman Warren Hastings before her encounter with the French frigate Piemontaise and the point after the battle when the Captain of the Warren Hastings was surrendering to the French. The second view (RCIN 735130) depicts the destruction suffered by the Warren Hastings at the hands of the French. At the time of surrender, her gun room was on fire and the fore and main masts were wrecked, and the mizzenmast had fallen forwards blocking every gun on the upper deck. At the time of the engagement, the Warren Hastings, nominally a 40-gun ship, had only 36 guns in service and a crew of 138 men and boys.
In this view the Warren Hastings appears to be flying a Red Ensign, not the flag of the East India Company. The Red Ensign was used for British merchant shipping at this time.
Robert Dodd (1748-1815) (publisher) [bottom centre, below title:] London, Published by Robt Dodd, Marine Painter near the Admiralty.
Watermark: [Cropped:] S [and] 1802
Condition: no fold lines. Verso: induced discolouration
31.1 x 45.2 cm (neatline)
33.5 x 45.5 cm (image)
35.7 x 49.0 cm (platemark)
40.0 x 53.5 cm (sheet)
Printed title:
View of the Hon,,ble Companys Ship WARREN HASTINGS, a few Minutes before her Action with LA PIE'MONT'AISE (French Frigate) on the 21,st June 1806. [bottom, below view]
Additional text:
[bottom left, below edge of view:] Warren Hastings. 40 Guns [blank space] Men [bottom right, below edge of view:] La Pie'mont'aise 40 Guns, 385 Men.
Annotations:
George III heading: Naval Engagement 21 June 1806.
Other annotations: (Recto) none. (Verso) [bottom, left of centre, black pencil:] 182.a.(i); [bottom right, black pencil, eighteenth/nineteenth-century hand?]: 7/6.
George III catalogue entry:
Naval Engagement View of the Hon,,ble Companys Ship Warren Hastings a few minutes before her action with la Piedmontaise French Frigate, on the 21.st of June 1806: by R. Dodd.
From the collection of military and naval maps and prints formed by George III (1738-1820)
Cape of Good Hope, Western Cape, South Africa (34°21'30"S 18°28'21"E)
H. Parker, Naval battles from the collection of prints formed and owned by Commander Sir Charles Leopold Cust, With an introduction by C.N. Robinson, London, 1911, no.182.a