Foster 60

The Action off Pulo Aor, 15 February, 1804, painted c.1804

An encounter, in February 1804, between a fleet of merchant vessels homeward bound from Canton, under Commodore (afterwards Sir Nathaniel) Dance and a squadron of French men-of-war under Admiral Linois near the Straits of Malacca. Five vessels of the enemy’s fleet are seen on the right under full sail, discharging their broadsides at the Indiamen. The latter, also firing, occupy the centre and left of the picture, while the rest of the English ships are seen to leeward. Through Dance’s skill the sixteen Indiamen were saved.

Inscribed: ‘T Butterworth’

35 by 73 ins (89 by 186 cms)

Circumstances of acquisition unrecorded.

The British ships in the engagement were: ‘Cumberland, Warren Hastings, Dorsetshire, Henry Addington, Earl of Abergavenny, Coutts, Royal George, Earl of Camden, Alfred, Warley, Ganges, Exeter, Bombay Castle, Ocean Hope.’ For a watercolour of the engagement, see WD3827. Butterworth painted another picture of the fight ‘from a sketch made by an officer at the time’ which was engraved by J. Clark and H. Merke and published in 1804 as a coloured print.

A very similar version of the present picture and another painting of the same engagement with the ships in a different formation were presented to Christ’s Hospital by Captain Charles Shea, an old ‘Blue’ who had commanded one of the ships under Dance. Both are in the school at Horsham. Whether these paintings are also by Butterworth is not recorded. An engraving by William Daniell made in 1804 differs slightly from both the India Office and Christ’s Hospital oils.