18th C Laurie & Whittle Coloured Engraving HMS Brilliant at Battle

A superb quality 18th century coloured engraving published 21st October 1798 by Laurie & Whittle 53 Fleet Street London.
It shows three ships in battle in full sail, the title of the engraving reads; ‘Engagement between His Majesty’s Ship Brilliant of 28 guns, Capt H Blackwood & the L’Vertue & Renenue, French Frigates of 38 guns & 36 guns. Off Santa Cruz on the coast of Barbary, the 26th July 1798, when after a severe action which lasted from 2pm to ½ past 12, she obliged them both to sheer off. To Capt Blackwood, Lieut’s Cambell & F Trufcott, this plate is respectfully dedicated by their oblg’d friends.’
This refers to an action Between July 1796 and October 1798 Brilliant's captain was Henry Blackwood. On 27 July, at Tenerife, Brilliant observed the frigates Vertu and Régénérée preparing to sail for Rochefort.[6] At 6, the French frigates sailed and started firing on Brilliant; Régénérée was closing in on her opponent when Vertu, which had sailed large, touched the wind; Régénérée imitated her manoeuver, but lost her mizzen and bowsprit, allowing Brilliant to flee. Vertu gave chase, but could not overhaul her opponent and returned to Tenerife. There, Régénérée replaced her rigging, and both frigates eventually arrived in Rochefort on 5 September.
This engraving is in excellent condition showing very little fading and no foxing. It was remounted with a hand wash line and framed sometime in the 1930’s and has been well looked after, it retains its original backing board and the frame is in good order.
It measures 24 x 18.
Laurie & Whittle. Robert Laurie Born about 1755, his background was the Lauries of Maxwelton, Dumfriesshire. He received from the Society of Arts in 1770 a silver palette for a drawing from a picture, and in 1773, 1775, and 1776 premiums for designs of patterns for calico-printing. His earliest portraits in mezzotint are dated 1771. He was a relatively early British user of the à la poupée method of printing in colours, extending the number of colours considerably, and for this received from the Society of Arts in 1776 a bounty of thirty guineas. Early in 1794, in partnership with James Whittle, he succeeded to the business carried on by Robert Sayer at the Golden Buck in Fleet Street, London as a publisher of engravings, maps, charts, and nautical works. He was the publisher of the charts of James Cook's Survey of the South Coast of Newfoundland (1776) and the Surveys of St. George's Channel, (1777). Laurie then gave up the practice of engraving. He retired from business in 1812, and the firm continued as Whittle & Laurie, but the business was run by his son, Richard Holmes Laurie, who, on the death of Whittle in 1818, became the sole proprietor.
Sadly the glare on the glass in the photographs doesn't do justice to this wonderful historic print.
Shipping via courier priced at £10.95

Code: 26294