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| View Original: | Duckworth's_Action_off_San_Domingo,_6_February_1806.jpg (946x625) | |||
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| Keywords: Duckworth's Action off San Domingo, 6 February 1806.jpg Following Nelson's victory at Trafalgar in 1805 Sir John Duckworth left the blockade of Cadiz and pursued a French squadron to the Caribbean where he defeated it off San Domingo on the 6 February 1806 With six ships of the line and two frigates he was lying off St Kitts watering and refitting his squadron when he heard on that three French ships of the line were making for San Domingo A force of nine French ships were found at anchor in San Domingo Roads whence they slipped their cables and made sail in a westerly direction forming a line of battle close inshore The British closed in on them in two lines to cut them off The action began when 'Superb' 74 guns under the command of Sir John Duckworth fired at the French 'Alexandre' 80 guns In the action that followed the French ships' Alexandre' Brave' 74 guns and 'Jupiter' 74 guns were taken while the 'Diomede' 72 guns and the huge 'Imperial' 120 guns ran themselves ashore and were wrecked The three French frigates 'Felicite' 36 guns 'Comete' 36 guns and 'Diligente' 18 guns escaped The 'Imperial' in port-bow view is in the right centre foreground of the painting engaged to port with the 'Superb' nearly bow on The 'Imperial's' main topmast is falling To the right and beyond is the partly dismasted 'Northumberland' 74 guns in starboard-quarter view Beyond her in the extreme right background is the British 'Spencer' 74 guns stern on and in the background between the 'Superb 'and 'Northumberland' is the dismasted 'Brave ' In the centre middle ground in port-bow view and partly masked by the 'Imperial 'is the 'Diomede' being engaged to starboard by the British 'Canopus' 80 guns in starboard-bow view Astern of her the stern half of the British 'Atlas' 74 guns is visible followed by the 'Agamemnon' 64 guns in starboard-bow view with the 'Alexandre' in starboard-quarter view in the distance In the extreme left of the picture the British 'Donegal' 74 guns in starboard-bow view is engaging the French 'Jupiter' 74 guns to port There is a fresh breeze and a choppy sea This painting was a large-scale commission for Admiral Charles Middleton Lord Barham and records an event which took place while he was First Lord of the Admiralty 1805-06 Pocock made many preparatory sketches for the commission giving full details of this action in accordance with his usual practice of ensuring accuracy Pocock was born and brought up in Bristol went to sea at the age of 17 and rose to command several merchant ships Although he only took up painting as a profession in his early forties he became extremely successful receiving commissions from naval commanders anxious to have accurate portrayals of actions and ships By the age of 80 Pocock had recorded nearly forty years of maritime history demonstrating a meticulous understanding of shipping and rigging with close attention to detail Signed and dated 'N Pocock 1808' http //www nmm ac uk/collections/explore/object cfm ID BHC0571 The National Maritime Museum 1808 Creator Nicholas Pocock 128px HMS Donegal engaging Jupiter at San Domingo png PD-old-100 ImageNote 1 695 167 141 363 946 625 2 HMS Superb ImageNoteEnd 1 ImageNote 2 417 136 277 393 946 625 2 LImpérial ImageNoteEnd 2 19th-century sailing ships in paintings 19th-century paintings of naval battles San Domingo Battle of San Domingo Nicholas Pocock Ships under sail HMS Superb ship 1798 1808 paintings | ||||
