Commodore Charles Brown, 1678-9-1753 RMG BHC2578

Commodore Charles Brown, 1678/9-1753
A three-quarter length portrait very slightly to right and facing ahead. No naval uniform existed at this time so Brown wears a brown coat and white full bottomed wig and carrying a drawn hanger in his right hand. A hanger was a hunting sword used at sea before the small sword and cutlass. On a plinth on his left is a telescope and in the background is Boca Chica Bay with the ‘Hampton Court’ engaging the Castle of Chagres on the right. Owing to the wind dropping as they came into action the ‘Hampton Court’ was unsupported for the first half hour. Brown led the assault on the iron Castle here seen in the background. It was to Brown that the Spanish Governor offered his sword in surrender as a mark of his distinction in the attack.
In 1738 Brown was the senior naval officer in the West Indies in command of the ‘Hampton Court’ but when Vernon arrived the following year to attack Portobello, he became the second in command and led the squadron of six ships against the fortifications. In 1741 he became Commissioner at Chatham and remained there until his death.
The portrait was painted and engraved in mezzotint by G. Faber in 1740.

Commodore Charles Brown (d.1753)