Image: HMS Mercury cuts out the French gunboat Leda from Rovigno, 1 April 1809 RMG BHC0589f

Description: HMS Mercury cuts out the French gunboat Leda from Rovigno, 1 April 1809 One of a pair commemorating actions in the Adriatic by the frigate 'Mercury', 28 guns, under Captain the Hon. Henry Duncan: the other is BHC0592. On the evening of 1 April 1809, Duncan sent in his ship's boats commanded by Lieutenant Watkin Owen Pell, under heavy fire, to cut the French gunboat 'Leda' out of the French-held harbour of Rovigno, on the Istrian peninsula 40 miles south-south-west of Trieste. Five men were killed in the action. This picture shows the boats of the 'Mercury' under sail, headed by her launch, rounding the mole enclosing the harbour as they make their way with their prize back to the 'Mercury'. The 'Leda' is shown under her courses (lower sails) only, with her topmasts sent down. At the peak of the gaff she flies English colours over an indeterminate white flag with a red central element. French fire from batteries to the left, on the landward side of the harbour, pursues the escaping convoy. The lateen yards of local boats can be seen above the mole behind, with two others on the far right under the shore where there is also another French fort or major building. The painting is signed in black, lower right, and was originally on stretched canvas. It has been removed from the stretcher and mounted on a grey softboard, with the tacking edges trimmed off, perhaps as an alternative to lining to repair a tear in the canvas, left centre. The process, fairly common at the time the picture was acquired in 1954, is no longer widely used. The blue crayon inscription of the acquisition number and the event on the back in Teddy Archibald's hand suggests this was probably done in the Museum. [PvdM 7/08] HMS 'Mercury' cuts out the French gunboat 'Leda' from Rovigno, 1 April 1809
Title: HMS 'Mercury' cuts out the French gunboat Leda from Rovigno, 1 April 1809 title QS:P1476,en:"HMS 'Mercury' cuts out the French gunboat Leda from Rovigno, 1 April 1809 " label QS:Len,"HMS 'Mercury' cuts out the French gunboat Leda from Rovigno, 1 April 1809 "
Credit: http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/12081
Author: William John Huggins
Permission: The original artefact or artwork has been assessed as public domain by age, and faithful reproductions of the two dimensional work are also public domain. No permission is required for reuse for any purpose. The text of this image record has been derived from the Royal Museums Greenwich catalogue and image metadata. Individual data and facts such as date, author and title are not copyrightable, but reuse of longer descriptive text from the catalogue may not be considered fair use. Reuse of the text must be attributed to the "National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London" and a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-SA-3.0 license may apply if not rewritten. Refer to Royal Museums Greenwich copyright.
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License: Public domain
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