H.M.S. Pique Vesuvius and Zebra off Mt Carmel in the Bay of Acre, during the storm of Decr 2nd 1840 RMG PW8071

H.M.S. Pique Vesuvius and Zebra off Mt Carmel in the Bay of Acre, during the storm of Decr 2nd 1840
Hand-coloured. The original of this image appears to be one three Schranz wash drawings -probably all by John (Giovanni) Schranz (1794-1882) - pasted into the 'Travel Journal of Frances Anne, 3rd Marchioness of Londonderry', now inthe Public Record Office, Belfast , (PRONI, D654_B_7_1). This is signed just 'Schranz' lower left but another (D654_B_7_1~136A~A ), described as a 'View of snowy mountains, with a ruined castle', probably in Greece is signed 'J. Schranz', lower left. A third, unsigned (D654_B_7_1~124A~A) is a view of Nauplia from the sea with a small caique to the left. The ‘Oriental Crisis’ of 1840 resulted in the bombardment of the city of Acre and the port by the Allied British, Turkish, French and Austrian fleets, on 3 and 4 November 1840. Having taken part in the operations, the three ships shown in this image remained on patrol in the area. HMS 'Pique' was a wooden fifth-rate sailing frigate of the Royal Navy. HMS 'Vesuvius' was a wooden steam paddle sloop. HMS 'Zebra' was the last of the 18-gun 'Cruiser'-class brig-sloops launched in 1815. All three ships suffered damage in a storm on 2 December 1840, and 'Zebra' was driven ashore off Mount Carmel near Haifa and wrecked: see also PAH0790 and PAH7091 for her after the storm there and 'clearing out'. These lithographs were among the earliest published by Giovanni and Antonio Schranz, under their imprint but shortly before the brothers established their own firm in Valletta, Malta. They also published a lithograph of the Bombardment of St Jean d’Acre, (also signed Schranz Brothers) of which there are also copies in the NMM collection. We are grateful to Briony Llewellyn for supplying this information. [PvdM 10/16]

H.M.S. Pique Vesuvius and Zebra off Mt Carmel in the Bay of Acre, during the storm of Decr 2nd 1840