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Notes
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The wreck of the 'Magnificent', 74 guns, took place early in the Napoleonic War, 1803–1815. Commanded by Captain W. H. Jervis (formerly Ricketts), the ship was one of 20 sail of the line blockading the French fleet in Brest, Brittany, and foundered after striking uncharted rocks near the Pierre Noir (Black Rocks). While reconnoitring the enemy coast during the blockade, Jervis discovered several French ships in the bay of Conquet. Determined to attack and capture them he made the attempt on the night of 24 March 1804 but a strong current and threatening weather forced him to abandon the raid. On the following day he was trying to get round the outermost of the Black Rocks when the ship hit an uncharted spur. The tide rapidly rose and she was wrecked but boats of the squadron immediately came to the rescue and all the crew, up to 600 men, were saved.
In Schetky's rendering the ship lies on its side with waves crashing over it and the ensign at the stern turned upside-down, a traditional distress signal. Figures are shown climbing down ropes into the boats waiting below. In the foreground to the right a number of small ship's boats are rowing towards the stricken vessel and in the distance to the left two other ships of the squadron lie at anchor, tossed by the waves.
Schetky was a Scottish painter whose work was informed by close personal knowledge of the sea and his subjects ranged from ship portraits and royal embarkations to reconstructions of earlier sea battles of the time of Nelson. In 1820 he was made Marine Painter in Ordinary to George IV and was granted the same title by Queen Victoria in 1844.
Title
Loss of The 'Magnificent', 25 March 1804
Date
1839
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
H 86.4 x W 147.3 cm
Accession number
BHC0534
Work type
Painting