Overall: 43cm x 60cm
Oil on canvas applied to later panel. A Royal Navy frigate in foul weather, having lost both fore-royal and mizen-royal masts, clawing her way to windward and perhaps about to perform the near impossible task for a square rigger when beating against the wind, of putting her helm down to leeward in order to avoid hitting the frigate which is hove to and flying the flag of the Lord High Admiral of Great Britain. Circle of Peter Monamy (1681-1749). Framed.
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This scene of maritime distress can be dated to 1707 and is perhaps a commentary on the 1714 Longitude Act, aka ‘An Act for providing a publick Reward for such Person or Persons as shall discover the Longitude at Sea’. It features ships reminiscent of the naval building programmes instigated by Secretary to the Admiralty Samuel Pepys, many of which were still in service in 1707. Moreover the imperilled warships are flying the new Union Jack and Red Ensign introduced into the fleet after the Act of Union of England with Scotland in 1707. The ship on the left additionally wears the Anchor Flag of the Lord High Admiral of Great Britain (and Lords Commissioners) from her mainmast.
The Lord High Admiral was one of the great offices of state, and in 1707 it was held by the modest, self-effacing and ineffectual Prince George of Denmark (1653-1708), husband of Queen Anne. It is said he had little impact on the running of the navy, but he was interested enough in navigation and welfare at sea to sponsor the publication of John Flamsteed's ‘Observations’ in 1704. In 1702 he was authorised to appoint a Lord Admiral’s Council to assist him thus placing the office of Lord High Admiral ‘in commission’, and thus rendering the Anchor Flag to be that of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. In 1707 the Lords Commissioners included among its naval members Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell (1650-1707).
Shovell is best remembered for the disaster that befell his ill-fated fleet when homeward-bound from the bombardment of Toulon. Shovell's flagship, the second-rate HMS Association, struck the Western Rocks near the Isles of Scilly at 8 pm on 22 October 1707 and was lost with all hands. The third-rate HMS Eagle, the fourth-rate HMS Romney and the fire ship HMS Firebrand were similarly wrecked and all sank. With nearly 2,000 sailors lost that night, the Scilly naval disaster was recorded as one of the greatest maritime disasters in British history. The cause of the disaster has often been represented as the navigators' inability to accurately calculate their longitude, giving rise to the Longitude Act (1714). Shovell's body and those of both his stepsons were all found in Porthellick Cove on St Mary's, almost 7 miles from where his ship was wrecked. He was later interred in Westminster Abbey.