The Battle of the Glorious First of June, 1794; the 'Marlborough' engaged with two French...

Creator: Nicholas Pocock In this drawing Pocock's inscriptions identify the 'Marlborough' (left) engaging two 'French ships to windward / the Main Mast [ie of the centre ship later] fell on board the other / French ship to leeward.' He has also written 'No.2' in the top right corner of the sheet: 'No 1' appears to be PAD8699. Pocock appears to have been present at the Battle of the First of June on board the 'Pegasus' (Captain Barlow), one of the frigates in Howe's fleet, which served to repeat his signals during the battle from an observing position to windward. In this he was following the precedent of the elder Van de Velde some 140 years earlier, and it is the first instance we know of a professional artist accompanying a fleet with that intention since that time. He subsequently made paintings of the battle, based on the sketches he took on the spot, which he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1796 and 1797. One of these, showing the duel between 'Brunswick' and 'Vengeur', is in the Museum's collection (BHC0471). The inscribed caption at the bottom is in a 20th century hand.