'Nelson Boarding the 'San Nicolas' in the Victory off Cape St Vincent - 14th February 1797 - ' RMG D4784

'Nelson Boarding the 'San Nicolas' in the Victory off Cape St Vincent... 14th February 1797....'
This is at present a slightly mysterious image of Nelson boarding the 'San Nicolas' at the Battle of Cape St Vincent, 14 February 1797. It is presumably from a painting of some sort and when issued as a print also had an identifying key to those shown, of which (in 2010) the British Museum acquired a copy (BM ref. 2010,7081.7442). Nelson is the figure with a sword in his right hand leading the attacking group under the bowsprit of his own ship, the 'Captain'. From the 'San Nicolas' he also captured the 120-gun ‘San Josef’, which had become entangled alongside – an event that caught the naval and public imagination as ‘Nelson’s patent bridge for boarding first-rates’. Although many paintings commemorated the feat, aquatints and etchings like this brought the action to a wider audience. Both ships were taken into the Royal Navy. The ‘San Nicolas’ became a prison ship in 1800 and the ‘San Josef’ lasted until 1849. Who the artist was is uncertain but it has the look of a mid-19th-century item, especially the letterpress, and it may be William Rudolph Thomas (1822-80) who was born in India, son of English infantry officer, and went to Australia (Adelaide) in 1848-49. He later moved to Ballarat where he worked as a law clerk but was also a watercolourist. It seems an unusual subject for an artist who did not live in England but he is also recorded as doing a view of 'The 30th and 73rd Regiments in a Square, Beating the French at Waterloo'. This identity remains for confirmation. [PvdM 9/15]

Nelson Boarding the San Nicolas in the Victory off Cape St Vincent... 14th February 1797....