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Find your local specialistAn extremely rare Derby model of a Senior Naval Officer, circa 1765-70, believed to be Rear Admiral Augustus Keppel,
Footnotes
A similar Derby figure, from the late Surgeon Rear-Admiral P.D. Gordon Pugh Collection, thought to depict Keppel, was sold at Christie's South Kensington, 26th April 2001, lot 73.
Rear Admiral, The Honourable Augustus Keppel achieved the rank of Rear Admiral in 1762, having recently commanded an enormous fleet of 63 vessels. His portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds, now in the National Maritime Museum, shows Keppel as an intense career officer, whose success may be judged by Admiral Edward Boscawen's summary: '...there is no better seamen than Keppel, few so good, and not a better officer'.
Keppel had the good fortune to serve with Admiral George Anson, one of the 18th Century's greatest seamen, who had commanded the Western Squadron during the Seven Years War in 1758. Scurvy, one of Anson's particular concerns, was a common and endemic occurrence in the Royal Navy at this time, often found in poor areas ashore, as well as at sea. Keppel, himself, was no stranger to this ailment, having lost most of his hair and teeth during Anson's epic circumnavigation of the globe. Perhaps this fact accounts for some of Keppel's popularity. In an age of defined social hierarchy, Keppel led by obvious example, a fact which endeared him to both his followers at sea, and to the Admiralty. When he wrote in 1753 that: 'My young lads are such as I confess I never saw at sea before, well-bred, genteel, good and diligent to a degree', it is clear that Keppel considered preferment for such aspiring Lieutenants should be based on professionalism and seamanship alone.