Lot 82: Captain Ralph Willett Miller (American, 1762-1799)

The Battle off Cape St. Vincent, February, 14th. 1797, a pair
both bear inscriptions on reverse
pen, ink and watercolour
each 33 x 48cm. (13 x 18 7/8in.), (2).

Provenance :- Captain Miller's wife, and thence by descent. This watercolour shows the position of H.M.S.'Captain' bearing the broad pennant of Sir Horatio Nelson. The Battle of Cape St. Vincent, fought on 14th February 1797, was a much-needed British victory at a time when the war with Revolutionary France and her allies was not going well. At the end of 1796, French and Spanish ships were ordered to Brest to support an invasion of Ireland. The French, based at Toulon, slipped through the Straits of Gibraltar successfully but Admiral Sir John Jervis, cruising off Cape St. Vincent with 15 ships-of-the line including H.M.S. "Victory", was determined to intercept the Spaniards and stop the two enemy fleets from joining up. On 13th February 1797 Jervis was joined by Commodore Nelson's squadron from Gibraltar, and together they engaged the Spanish fleet the following day. By late afternoon, Jervis's victory over the much larger enemy fleet of 27 ships-of-the-line was assured thanks to the efficiency of his own Mediterranean Fleet and Nelson's brilliant daring at two critical points during the battle. These two remarkable eye-witness views of the battle show not only the general panorama in (i) but also, much more significantly, H.M.S. "Captain" [Nelson's flagship under Miller's command] cutting across the path of the Spanish windward division and preventing it from escaping the scene in (ii). "Captain" is seen in the centre of (ii), with the Commodore's forked pennant at her main masthead, engaging the leading Spanish ships prior to Nelson's legendary boarding of their two first rates "San Nicolas" and "San Josef".