Lot 172: The battle of Cape Santa Maria, 5thOctober 1804: The capture of the Spanish treasure ships off Cadiz

Francis Sartorius (1782-after 1808) The battle of Cape Santa Maria, 5th October 1804: The capture of the Spanish treasure ships off Cadiz signed and dated 'F Sartorius 1804' (lower right) oil on canvas 25 x 34 in. (63.4 x 86.3 cm.)

63.4 x 86.3 cm.

Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 22 May 1991, lot 25 (sold for £15,400).

Although nominally at peace with Spain, the desperate struggle to defeat Napoleon sometimes drove the British Government to abandon diplomacy in favour of stronger measures. Such was the case in September 1804 when the Admiralty, acting on intelligence gathered in South America, dispatched a squadron to the Mediterranean approaches with orders to intercept a valuable convoy en route from Montevideo to Cadiz. The four ships - Indefatigable, Amphion, Lively and Medusa were under the command of Captain Graham Moore, and on the morning of 5th October 1804, the convoy of four large Spanish frigates was sighted off Capo de Santa Maria in-bound for Cadiz. The two quarters of ships straightaway formed into lines of battle and each ship engaged its partner. The ensuing action was a short one and in less than ten minutes H.M.S. Amphion scored a lucky hit on Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes causing her to blow up. Within half an hour Admiral Bustamente aboard the Spanish ship Medée was forced to surrender and his precious cargo, amongst which was four million Spanish-colonial silver dollars (equivalent to one million in sterling) was captured along with two of his ships. The incident, reminiscent of Sir Francis Drake's privateering exploits two hundred years earlier, provoked outrage in Madrid and, by the end of the year, England and Spain were at war. There is a variant of this composition in the National Collection at Greenwich (see Concise Catalogue of Oil Paintings in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, BHC0535, ill. p. 342).