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Lot Essay
On 15th July 1815, almost ten years after the battle of Trafalgar, Napoleon Bonaparte surrendered himself to Captain Frederick Maitland commanding the 74-gun H.M.S. Bellerophon, which was blockading the French port of Rochefort. The fallen emperor was taken to Torbay where he was held prisoner in H.M.S. Bellerophon, known to her crew as the 'Billy Ruffian', for over three weeks without ever being allowed to land in England. Despite a cloak of secrecy, word leaked out that Bonaparte was onboard, and the news created a sensation. Eventually Maitland received orders for Plymouth where he was met by Admiral Lord Keith in his flagship H.M.S. Ville de Paris, surely a name chosen to rub salt into Bonaparte's wounded pride.
Bellerophon was one of those "storm-tossed ships, on which the Grand Army never looked, which stood between it and the Empire of the World", and, launched in 1786, she was worn out. The Admiralty therefore chose the much newer 74-gun H.M.S. Northumberland to carry Bonaparte into exile on the remote mid-Atlantic island of St Helena, where he was allowed to take three officers, his surgeon, and twelve servants. On 7th August Bonaparte thanked Maitland and his crew for their kindness and hospitality, and left Bellerophon by boat for Northumberland.
The picture shows H.M.S. Bellerophon on the right, centre Keith's flagship H.M.S. Ville de Paris, and in the foreground a diminutive figure of Bonaparte and some of his retinue being transferred to H.M.S. Northumberland on the left. The figuratively much diminished emperor is overwhelmed by the ships of the Royal Navy.
Bellerophon was one of those "storm-tossed ships, on which the Grand Army never looked, which stood between it and the Empire of the World", and, launched in 1786, she was worn out. The Admiralty therefore chose the much newer 74-gun H.M.S. Northumberland to carry Bonaparte into exile on the remote mid-Atlantic island of St Helena, where he was allowed to take three officers, his surgeon, and twelve servants. On 7
The picture shows H.M.S. Bellerophon on the right, centre Keith's flagship H.M.S. Ville de Paris, and in the foreground a diminutive figure of Bonaparte and some of his retinue being transferred to H.M.S. Northumberland on the left. The figuratively much diminished emperor is overwhelmed by the ships of the Royal Navy.