Lot Essay
Although the artist has inscribed this work "Le Fregate Anglaise Tage de 24 canons..." it is presumably the Royal Navy's 'Scaramander' Class frigate H.M.S. Tagus which, whilst mounting 26 (some records state 24) 18-pdrs. on her main upper deck, also carried 4 9-pdrs. and 12-32pd. carronades positioned elsewhere.
Tagus, 930 tons, was designated H.M.S. Severn when originally ordered in May 1812, but had been allocated her new name by the time her keel was laid in List's yard, Fishbourne (Isle of Wight) in August that same year. Designed by Sir William Rule and launched on 14 July 1813, she was 'fir' built of red pine and measured 120 feet in length with a 38 foot beam.
With the Napoleonic Wars nearing their end, the navy's commitments were already reducing when Tagus entered service and her only recorded action took place on 6 January 1814 when, in the company of her sistership Niger, she engaged and captured the French 40-gun frigate Ceres after a fierce fight 240 miles south of the Cape Verde Islands. Once peace was finally concluded in 1815, Tagus, like so many other fighting ships, was left without a role and was sold for breaking up in April 1822.
Tagus, 930 tons, was designated H.M.S. Severn when originally ordered in May 1812, but had been allocated her new name by the time her keel was laid in List's yard, Fishbourne (Isle of Wight) in August that same year. Designed by Sir William Rule and launched on 14 July 1813, she was 'fir' built of red pine and measured 120 feet in length with a 38 foot beam.
With the Napoleonic Wars nearing their end, the navy's commitments were already reducing when Tagus entered service and her only recorded action took place on 6 January 1814 when, in the company of her sistership Niger, she engaged and captured the French 40-gun frigate Ceres after a fierce fight 240 miles south of the Cape Verde Islands. Once peace was finally concluded in 1815, Tagus, like so many other fighting ships, was left without a role and was sold for breaking up in April 1822.