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Lot Essay
This model is very similar in style and presentation to one offered in Messrs. Sotheby's 31st May 1989 sale, lot 496. This example, un-named, may well be by the same hand. The quality is so consistant that it may be a professional product.
The French 120-gun first rate Océan was laid down at Brest in 1786, before the start of the revolution, and launched in 1790 with her original name Etats de Bourgogne. In 1793 this was changed to Côte d'Or and then altered to Montagne later the same year, and it was only in 1795 - after a brief spell as Peuple - that she assumed her permanent name of Océan. A highly significant vessel, she also proved remarkably long-lived for a French ship-of-the-line of Lord Nelson's era and survived for fully sixty years before being finally 'retiré' in 1855.
Although presumably commissioned as soon as she was completed, her first notable encounter with ships of the Royal Navy came in 1799 when Vice-Admiral Bruix, the French Minister of Marine, having finally raised funds to pay the sailors at Brest and equip the fleet lying there, had managed to make 25 ships-of-the-line ready for sea. Choosing Océan as his flagship, Bruix led his fleet out of Brest and slipped past Admiral Lord Bridport's blockade on the evening of 25th April. By the time Bridport realised that the French were at sea but not heading for Ireland as he had been duped into believing, it was already too late to intercept them. A celebrated chase then developed but once Bruix made it safely into the Mediterranean, the presence of this powerful force at Toulon proved a major obstacle for Britain later that year and as the new century dawned.
Curiously excluded from participation at Trafalgar when she remained at Brest, Océan next drew attention upon herself when she successfully ran yet another British blockade for the second time in her career. Early in 1809, Admiral Lord Gambia's lengthy blockade of Brest was interrupted by a succession of severe westerly gales. Rear-Admiral Willaumez, in command of the Brest fleet, was already under orders to put to sea whenever the opportunity arose which he duly grasped at dawn on 21st February. Flying his flag in Océan, he led a further seven ships-of-the-line, two 40-gun frigates and two smaller sail out into the open sea and, after a brief chase by a small British squadron which included Captain T.M. Hardy in the Triumph, made it safely into the Basque Roads on the 24th. Word was sent immediately to inform Lord Gambia who, after gathering additional ships to reinforce his own, anchored off the Basque Roads on 17th March as the prelude to the contentious fireship attack on the French fleet which took place on 11th April [1809] under the devolved command of Captain Lord Cochrane. Relations between Cochrane and Lord Gambia were not good but the British attack, despite its shortcomings, proved ultimately successful since whilst only a few French ships were actually destroyed by fire, many others were badly damaged in their panic to escape the flames which France could ill afford to lose. Due to the superhuman efforts of her crew and the crews of other vessels nearby, Océan herself survived the chaotic melée and eventually returned to Brest where she sat out the rest of the War and afterwards lived out her venerable old age.
The French 120-gun first rate Océan was laid down at Brest in 1786, before the start of the revolution, and launched in 1790 with her original name Etats de Bourgogne. In 1793 this was changed to Côte d'Or and then altered to Montagne later the same year, and it was only in 1795 - after a brief spell as Peuple - that she assumed her permanent name of Océan. A highly significant vessel, she also proved remarkably long-lived for a French ship-of-the-line of Lord Nelson's era and survived for fully sixty years before being finally 'retiré' in 1855.
Although presumably commissioned as soon as she was completed, her first notable encounter with ships of the Royal Navy came in 1799 when Vice-Admiral Bruix, the French Minister of Marine, having finally raised funds to pay the sailors at Brest and equip the fleet lying there, had managed to make 25 ships-of-the-line ready for sea. Choosing Océan as his flagship, Bruix led his fleet out of Brest and slipped past Admiral Lord Bridport's blockade on the evening of 25
Curiously excluded from participation at Trafalgar when she remained at Brest, Océan next drew attention upon herself when she successfully ran yet another British blockade for the second time in her career. Early in 1809, Admiral Lord Gambia's lengthy blockade of Brest was interrupted by a succession of severe westerly gales. Rear-Admiral Willaumez, in command of the Brest fleet, was already under orders to put to sea whenever the opportunity arose which he duly grasped at dawn on 21