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Lot 39

Thomas Luny
(British, 1759-1837)
The wreck of the Droits de L'Homme after the Action of 13th January

1 May 2019, 14:00 BST
London, Knightsbridge

Sold for £6,562.50 inc. premium

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Thomas Luny (British, 1759-1837)

The wreck of the Droits de L'Homme after the Action of 13th January
signed and dated 'Luny 1824' (lower left)
oil on canvas
76.5 x 112cm (30 1/8 x 44 1/8in).
indistinctly inscribed on an old label attached to the stretcher verso

Footnotes

Shown here is Pellew's Action in HMS Indefatigable against the French Droits de l'Homme in the Bay of Audierne, Brittany on the 13th January 1797. The picture shows Sir Edward Pellew in HMS Indefatigable (44 guns), ahead of Captain Robert Reynolds in HMS Amazon (36 guns). It is the end of the night action (4.20am) with the dismasted Droits de l'Homme (74 guns), on the reef (it was low water when she grounded) and HMS Amazon damaged aloft. Amazon later went ashore too, all but five of the ship's complement made it to land to become prisoners of war. Droits de l'Homme lost nearly a thousand men in the icy conditions. There was nowhere to shelter on board when the tide rose and the storm increased. There is a monument to their loss on the coast adjacent to the wreck, 1 1/2 miles north of the village of Penhors. Although forced into the bay, Pellew in Indefatigable, with masterly seamanship, clawed off the lee shore by wearing the ship (his shrouds were cut up and tacking would have brought down his rig in such a gale).

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