Hydra and Furet, British naval battle painting

oil on canvas on board; 460 x 600 mm
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.