Skip to main content
Barry Mason (British, born 1947) The Fleet Messenger HMS Pickle image 1
Barry Mason (British, born 1947) The Fleet Messenger HMS Pickle image 2
Barry Mason (British, born 1947) The Fleet Messenger HMS Pickle image 3
Lot 95AR

Barry Mason
(British, born 1947)
The Fleet Messenger HMS Pickle

30 April 2025, 14:00 BST
London, Knightsbridge

Sold for £5,120 inc. premium

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Marine Pictures & Works of Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

Barry Mason (British, born 1947)

The Fleet Messenger HMS Pickle
signed '- Barry Mason -' (lower right)
oil on canvas
61.9 x 96.8cm (24 3/8 x 38 1/8in).

Footnotes

The following footnote was written by the artist and a copy of this accompanies the work.

''The Fleet Messenger HMS Pickle' is an imagined scene around 1800 in the Eastern Solent at Spithead. The armed schooner, Pickle inward to Portsmouth, while the flagship, Victory prepares to anchor in the west breeze.

Spithead was a preferred anchorage to the difficult navigation of the narrow entrance of the harbour, especially to 1st rates such as Victory.

Anchoring a large ship such as Victory involved nearly the whole ships complement. Cables were hauled from the lockers and flaked the length of the gundecks.

Crewmen head aloft to furl and stow sail when the anchors have been laid and set, and the ship rides safely to the wind and tide.

Schooners such as Pickle were usually employed in coastal waters, doing in shore work and carrying despatches.'

Additional information