The Battle of St Vincent, 14 February 1797- Nelson in the 'Captain' takes the 'San Josef' and 'San Nicolas' RMG PW0020

The Battle of St Vincent, 14 February 1797: Nelson in the 'Captain' takes the 'San Josef' and 'San Nicolas'
Pen and ink drawings, like this one, by Pocock are relatively unusual. It shows Nelson's 74-gun 'Captain' (with his Commodore's pennant coloured red) engaged with the Spanish 'San Nicolas', 74, which is shown immediately to the left of the ‘Captain’, with only her stern visible. The bow of the 120-gun 'San Josef' lies beyond the bow of the 'Captain', her starboard mizzen chains are entangled with the port bower anchor of the 'San Nicolas', which thus became Nelson's celebrated 'Patent Bridge' in his capture of both ships by consecutive boarding. 'Victory', flying the flag of Sir John Jervis as commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, lies to the left of this group.
This drawing relates to others by Pocock of the same subject in the collection and his oil painting (BHC0487), though the oil painting shows the 'Captain' not so far advanced abeam of the 'San Nicolas' as in this example. The drawing is mistakenly inscribed by Pocock along the bottom 'Nelson takes the San Josef and Santisima Trinidad'. Bound with PAF0001–PAF0019, PAF0021–PAF0022.

The Battle of St Vincent, 14 February 1797: Nelson in the 'Captain' takes the 'San Josef' and 'San Nicolas'