Lot 23: SAMUEL SCOTT (LONDON 1702-1772 BATH) The Battle of Cap-Français, Forrest

SAMUEL SCOTT (LONDON 1702-1772 BATH) The Battle of Cap-Français, Forrest’s Action with De Kersaint, 21st October 1757 oil on canvas 76.5 x 122.5cm (30 1/8 x 48 1/4in).

Provenance Anon. sale, Sotheby’s, London, 16 November 1983, lot 14. Acquired from the above by the present owner. The Seven Years’ War (1756-63) was the first truly global conflict of history and witnessed many relatively small naval engagements which remain largely unknown today. One such was the battle of Cap-Français fought in the Caribbean, where both the English and French navies concentrated their attention on the capture of valuable homeward-bound convoys as well as territorial conquest. In the autumn of 1757, Admiral Thomas Cotes, in command on the Jamaica station, received intelligence that the French were assembling a large convoy for Europe at Cap-Français1, and sent two 60-gun 4th rates, Augusta and Dreadnought, and the 64-gun 3rd rate Edinburgh to intercept it. Unbeknown to Cotes however, the French convoy’s escort had been significantly strengthened and now comprised a squadron of seven vessels, including two powerful 74’s, under the command of the Comte de Kersaint. When the three English ships appeared off the harbour at Cap-Français on 21st October, de Kersaint put to sea immediately and battle was joined. Notwithstanding the numerical disparity, the English ships were able to inflict serious damage on their opponents albeit sustaining severe damage themselves, and eventually the French retired to the safety of port. Though tactically indecisive, the unequal fight against such heavy odds made popular heroes of the three English ships’ captains when they returned home, one of whom was Maurice Suckling, Nelson’s uncle. 1 Cap-Français was on the French-occupied island of Saint- Domingue (Hispaniola) and is now Cap-HaPien, on the northern coast of Haiti.