Dinner. Fetching lee-way.
Back when nodbear and I wrote Eyes to See and Lord Exmouth's Commission, both fics were kind of based on the idea that Admiralty Artist John Thomas Serres must have sketched or painted some of the officers and men that he met when he sailed with the Indefatigable and the Inshore Squadron between 1799 and 1800. At the time, that was purely wishful thinking on our part, however it turns out that the British Museum does actually have a Serres sketch of life aboard one of the ships of the Inshore Squadron! And here it is :)
Dinner. Fetching lee-way; or, one of the comforts of a channel cruize in November
The name on the gun indicates that this sketch illustrates a scene aboard HMS Clyde, Captain Charles Cunningham. Cunningham, who Serres greatly admired, was a highly regarded commander who had served as Nelson's first lieutenant on the Hinchinbrook and who distinguished himself in 1797 as the only captain at the Nore who retained command of his crew and got his ship away from the anchorage when mutiny broke out.
Captain Sir Charles Cunningham
Serres spent several months on the Clyde in 1800, working closely with the master Thomas Nott to chart the coasts of France, Spain and Portugal. This print is thought to be part of a series, though sadly this is the only one that appears to have survived. I live in hope that the elusive sketch of Lt Kennedy will turn up one day ;)
Dinner. Fetching lee-way; or, one of the comforts of a channel cruize in November
The name on the gun indicates that this sketch illustrates a scene aboard HMS Clyde, Captain Charles Cunningham. Cunningham, who Serres greatly admired, was a highly regarded commander who had served as Nelson's first lieutenant on the Hinchinbrook and who distinguished himself in 1797 as the only captain at the Nore who retained command of his crew and got his ship away from the anchorage when mutiny broke out.
Captain Sir Charles Cunningham
Serres spent several months on the Clyde in 1800, working closely with the master Thomas Nott to chart the coasts of France, Spain and Portugal. This print is thought to be part of a series, though sadly this is the only one that appears to have survived. I live in hope that the elusive sketch of Lt Kennedy will turn up one day ;)