H.M.S. Victory raking the Spanish Vice-Admiral's flagship at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, 14 February 1797

After some early successes, notably the battle of the Glorious First of June (1794), the war with Revolutionary France and her allies was not going well for Great Britain as 1796 drew to a close. A Franco-Spanish expedition to invade Ireland was being prepared and the large but undermanned Spanish fleet was ordered to join its French counterpart already making for Brest. The Spaniards, under Admiral de Cordova, put to sea from Cartagena with twenty-seven ships-of-the-line in company with twelve frigates only to find Admiral Sir John Jervis lying in wait for them off Cape St. Vincent. On 13th February Jervis was joined by Commodore Nelson's squadron and, the following day, Jervis brought the enemy to action in what proved a landmark victory despite the numerical superiority of Cordova's fleet. Aided by Nelson's tactical brilliance at a crucial moment in the battle, Jervis decimated the Spanish fleet and forced the remnants to withdraw to Cadiz. Jervis's flagship, the mighty 100-gun first rate H.M.S. Vicotry, had been built at Chatham and launched in 1765. Already a veteran of several major engagements at which she had flown the flags of various commanding admirals, Victory suffered only slight damage at Cape St. Vincent despite her pivotal role in the action. By comparison, Nelson's ship H.M.S. Captain was badly damaged although Nelson emerged triumphant and with his reputation for boldness created at a stroke. Soon afterwards Victory was docked for an extensive rebuild and when this was completed, Nelson took her as his own flagship for both ship and man to achieve their immortality at Trafalgar in October 1805.

A virtually identical version of this work by Robert Cleveley is illustrated in the Concise Catlaogue of Oil Paintings in the National Maritime Museum, published 1988, p. 127, BHC0485, plate 2.