Action Between HMS Hydra and the Furet, 27 February 1806 RMG BHC0572

Action Between HMS Hydra and the Furet, 27 February 1806
A scene showing the action on 27 February 1806, between the British 38-gun frigate Hydra and the French brig, Furet. Following their defeat at the Battle of Trafalgar, 21 October 1805, four French frigates and the 'Furet' escaped to Cadiz where they remained until February 1806. To entice them out, Vice-Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood withdrew his heavy ships out to sea leaving only the frigate Hydra and the sloop Moselle, 18 guns, in close blockade. On 23 February a strong easterly wind drove them off station and the French commander, Captain La Marre La Meillerie took the opportunity to sail. The Frenchmen were sighted by the Hydra and Moselle the same evening and Captain George Mundy of the Hydra dispatched the Moselle to warn the Commander-in-Chief, while he gave chase. At about 4.30 p.m. on 27 February he overtook the Furet which struck to him. In the right foreground is the Hydra, in port-bow view, sailing close-hauled on the starboard tack. In the left middle distance is the Furet, also port-bow view, firing a gun at the Hydra while her main top-gallant mast is falling.
George Chambers senior (1803-40), painted another version of this action for Mundy in 1832, with a pair to it of Hydra at Cape Bagur in 1807 (see also BHC0577). The Chambers pictures were subsequently lithographed by Paul Gauci but that of the Furet action (NMM PAG7115) does not relate to this interpretation of it. This painting is apparently the pair to BHC0577, being acquired with it for the Museum by Sir James Caird in 1928 as part of the Macpherson Collection.

Action between HMS Hydra and the Furet, 27 February 1806