Lot Essay
As befitted the capital city of a rapidly expanding mercantile empire, London’s River Thames was still the centre of the nation’s shipbuilding activities throughout the eighteenth century and remained so until the advent of steam-powered iron vessels ushered in the Victorian age. Presumably because of their bustling and altogether fascinating nature, coupled with the juxtapositioning of river, shore and sky, these Thames-side shipyards proved a great attraction to the artists of the day, notably Francis Holman, Nicholas Pocock, the two younger Cleveleys and, as in the highly accomplished work offered here, John Cleveley the Elder.
Undoubtedly in consequence of the establishment of the Royal Dockyard at Deptford by Henry VIII in 1517, that same locality gradually became home to a number of private shipyards which, by the eighteenth century, occupied almost the entire southern bank of the Thames opposite the western shore of the Isle of Dogs. Amongst the numerous yards was one owned by Adams & Co., a short-lived independent concern opened in 1773 and which, after only six years, was absorbed into the much larger establishment of Mr. William Barnard. During its brief tenure of independence however, Adams built three ships for the Royal Navy, the first of which was H.M.S. Ambuscade, a name already associated with success due to the fame of her predecessor. The first vessel to bear that name was, in fact, a powerful 40-gun French frigate captured by H.M.S. Defiance in 1746 and assimilated into the Navy under her original name, a practice often used for enemy prizes. Sold out of the fleet in 1762, when the Seven Years’ War came to an end, the next vessel to carry the name was one of the three ‘Amazon’ class 38-gun frigates ordered for the Navy in 1770 when a war with Spain [over the ownership of the Falklands Islands] seemed likely. Designed by Sir John Williams, the order for the second Ambuscade went to Adams’ yard, in Grove Street, Deptford, and her keel was laid in April 1771. Launched on 17th September 1773 and completed on 1st October the same year, the threat of the Anglo-Spanish War had by then subsided, with the result that the new frigate was not actually required for active duty until three years later.
First commissioned in January 1776, under Captain John Macartney, she was fitted out for sea at Chatham and sailed for North American Waters on 20th July the same year to spend two years engaged in operations resulting from the [American] War of Independence. Returning home for a refit in 1778, she was then re-commissioned under Captain Charles Phipps in April 1779 after which, in addition to taking part in the Relief of Guernsey (September 1779) and the much better known Relief of Gibraltar (October 1782), she captured no less than six French privateers in a number of separate engagements all in Home Waters. Paid off in 1783 when the Peace of Versailles ended the American War, she was later employed, mostly in the Mediterranean, until paid off again in September 1791 pending repairs. Following the outbreak of War with Revolutionary France, she was refitted for sea and re-commissioned under Captain George Duff, thereafter spending two years (1794-96) stationed in the Downs, followed by a further two years on the Jamaica Station where she took another French privateer. Back in the English Channel in 1798, she was captured by the French frigate La Bayonnaise off the Gironde on 14th December 1798 after a brutal fight in which she lost 10 men killed and 36 wounded. Eventually recaptured by none other than Lord Nelson in H.M.S. Victory on 28th May 1803, she then served in the Mediterranean for another five years until returning home in 1808 to be paid off prior to scrapping. Laid up for two years, she was finally broken up at Deptford in June 1810, ironically adjacent to the yard where she had been created almost thirty-five years before.
We would like to thank Michael Naxton, the author of the present entry, for his help in cataloguing this lot.
Undoubtedly in consequence of the establishment of the Royal Dockyard at Deptford by Henry VIII in 1517, that same locality gradually became home to a number of private shipyards which, by the eighteenth century, occupied almost the entire southern bank of the Thames opposite the western shore of the Isle of Dogs. Amongst the numerous yards was one owned by Adams & Co., a short-lived independent concern opened in 1773 and which, after only six years, was absorbed into the much larger establishment of Mr. William Barnard. During its brief tenure of independence however, Adams built three ships for the Royal Navy, the first of which was H.M.S. Ambuscade, a name already associated with success due to the fame of her predecessor. The first vessel to bear that name was, in fact, a powerful 40-gun French frigate captured by H.M.S. Defiance in 1746 and assimilated into the Navy under her original name, a practice often used for enemy prizes. Sold out of the fleet in 1762, when the Seven Years’ War came to an end, the next vessel to carry the name was one of the three ‘Amazon’ class 38-gun frigates ordered for the Navy in 1770 when a war with Spain [over the ownership of the Falklands Islands] seemed likely. Designed by Sir John Williams, the order for the second Ambuscade went to Adams’ yard, in Grove Street, Deptford, and her keel was laid in April 1771. Launched on 17th September 1773 and completed on 1st October the same year, the threat of the Anglo-Spanish War had by then subsided, with the result that the new frigate was not actually required for active duty until three years later.
First commissioned in January 1776, under Captain John Macartney, she was fitted out for sea at Chatham and sailed for North American Waters on 20th July the same year to spend two years engaged in operations resulting from the [American] War of Independence. Returning home for a refit in 1778, she was then re-commissioned under Captain Charles Phipps in April 1779 after which, in addition to taking part in the Relief of Guernsey (September 1779) and the much better known Relief of Gibraltar (October 1782), she captured no less than six French privateers in a number of separate engagements all in Home Waters. Paid off in 1783 when the Peace of Versailles ended the American War, she was later employed, mostly in the Mediterranean, until paid off again in September 1791 pending repairs. Following the outbreak of War with Revolutionary France, she was refitted for sea and re-commissioned under Captain George Duff, thereafter spending two years (1794-96) stationed in the Downs, followed by a further two years on the Jamaica Station where she took another French privateer. Back in the English Channel in 1798, she was captured by the French frigate La Bayonnaise off the Gironde on 14th December 1798 after a brutal fight in which she lost 10 men killed and 36 wounded. Eventually recaptured by none other than Lord Nelson in H.M.S. Victory on 28th May 1803, she then served in the Mediterranean for another five years until returning home in 1808 to be paid off prior to scrapping. Laid up for two years, she was finally broken up at Deptford in June 1810, ironically adjacent to the yard where she had been created almost thirty-five years before.
We would like to thank Michael Naxton, the author of the present entry, for his help in cataloguing this lot.