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A Life on the Ocean Wave

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, around one in five families in Britain had a direct connection to seafaring. Britain’s place in the world was supported by the Royal Navy, while her merchant seamen brought luxuries from every corner of the globe and exported her products. A rich painting tradition recording the glories of the Age of Sail can currently be enjoyed online and in our 147 New Bond Street gallery.

147 New Bond Street, W1S 2TS

Thomas Buttersworth - The Bristol privateer, Caesar, Captain Valentine Baker, engaging a 32-gun French frigate in the Bristol Channel on 27th June 1782

Thomas Buttersworth

The Bristol privateer, Caesar, Captain Valentine Baker, engaging a 32-gun French frigate in the Bristol Channel on 27th June 1782

Buttersworth began to paint when he was still a Master-at-Arms in the Navy. He may have been present at the Battle of St Vincent in 1797, Nelson’s first major victory. Here he vividly evokes an earlier conflict, the American War of Independence. In a David and Goliath contest, the 20-gun sloop ‘Caesar’, a Bristol privateer, forced the surrender of a 32-gun French frigate that was preying on a merchant convoy.
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