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Hearts of Oak by Mark Churms.
DHM369. Hearts of Oak by Mark Churms. In January 1793 the 1st Battalion of the 29th Foot leaves Windsor for Hilsea to board Royal Navy fighting ships as there is a shortage of marines. Their new roll is to counter enemy musket fire from the upper decks, to lead boarding parties and to maintain discipline of the crew. They are specially equipped with a new working rig but still retain their full dress red coats and powdered hair (curled locks above the ear are removed) for combat. The regiment joins The British Channel Fleet under Admiral Earl Howe, and detachments are allocated to the following ships of the line; H.M.S. Glory, Thunderer, Alfred, Pegasus and Ramilles. 78 soldiers under the command of Cpt. Alexander Saunders are also placed aboard Captain Harveys 74 gun H.M.S. Brunswick. Howes ships are sent to intercept a fleet, of similar size that has put out from Brest to escort a large convoy of food from America, destined for Revolutionary France. The two fleets make contact but fog prevents an engagement until 1 Oarn on the first day of June 1794. Now, in bright sunshine, the order is given to attack! Brunswick is directly astern of Howes flag ship as the French line is broken. She quickly engages Le Vengeur with which she becomes dangerously entangled. Broadsides are exchanged at point blank range! Sails are shot to ribbons, masts and rigging fall. Grenades, carronades and musketry find their targets and casualties mount. Nevertheless, the ships band, joined by a negro regimental drummer on the quarter deck, keep up moral by playing the new and popular air Hearts Of Oak. The two ships drift helplessly as another French man-of-war, Achille, comes in for the kill but the British gunners deliver such a devastating broadside into this new assailant that she is completely demasted and strikes her colours! In the firefight the figure head, an effigy of the Duke of Brunswick, has its carved wooden hat blown clean away. So, Captain Harvey calmly replaces the loss with his own cocked hat! The captain himself receives a blow to the hand and is subsequently mortally wounded with a section of chain-shot. Cpt. Saunders is killed by a snipers bullet and Lt. Harcourt Vernon (wearing short, non regulation boots to facilitate amputation) is soon wounded as well. The decks are cleared of downed masts and rigging, the dead also go over the side. cl At about one oclock the two interlocked ships are separated by a swell and Harveys brothers ship Ramilles cornes to the Brunsivicks assistance. The crippled Vengeur cannot compete with the skill of English gunnery and the ship is raked from end to end by galling fire. Cheers ring out as she surrenders and hoists the Union Jack. The rest of the French fleet breaks off the engagement. Six of their ships are out of action and Le Vengeur is so very badly holed that she eventually sinks (many of her crew refusing to abandon her. Singing the Marseillaise they re-hoist her battle flag as they slip to their watery grave) This British fleet returns in triumph to Spithead. However, the scene on the Brunswicks splintered poop deck is one of utter devastation. The regiment has 13 officers and men killed, another 18 are wounded and nearly quarter of the ships company is lost. This hard won victory is commemorated by the regiment with Naval Crown (awarded to the regiment in 1909, an honour shared only by the Queens Regiment) and by the adoption of the tune played throughout the height of battle, Hearts of Oak. Signed limited edition of 1000 prints. Image size 15 inches x 24 inches (38cm x 61cm)
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| Artist Details : Mark Churms |
Mark Churms
Mark was born in Wales in 1967. He gained his degree in Architectural Studies at Oxford Polytechnic in 1989, but soon his interest in drawing buildings was surpassed by his love of painting horses and in 1991 he began work as a freelance artist. His first commissions were for sporting subjects, Polo, Racing and Hunting. However his consuming passion for military history, particularly of the Napoleonic era, quickly became his dominant theme, with the invaluable counsel of French military experts (accuracy in uniform and terrain of the various battles takes a great deal of time and consultation with many experts across Europe). Mark Churms joined Cranston Fine Arts in 1991 and for a period of 8 years, was commissioned for several series and special commissions. His series of the Zulu War, and of the Battle of Waterloo were the highlights during this period. Mark Churms' deep understanding and detailed knowledge of the period made Mark at that time one of the most prolific and successfull artists for Cranston Fine Arts. Cranston Fine Arts are proud with their series of superb art prints and original paintings painted by Mark Churms in this period. We now offer Mark Churms art prints in special 2 and 4 print packs with great discounts as well as a number of selected original paintings at upto half price.
More about Mark Churms
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| Glorious 1st of June | |
| The Glorious First of June
Lord Howe, who had been first Lord of the Admiralty for a short time, but had resigned when the Annual Estimates ere cut down in 1790, another difficulty having arisen with Spain, was appointed to the command of the Channel Fleet, and hoisted the Union Jack on the Queen Charlotte. The dispute with Spain, however, was adjusted, but in 1793, when 68 years of age, on the outbreak of war with France, he was reappointed to the command of the channel Fleet.
Ship for ship the French fleet was more than a match for the English fleet both in tonnage and in weight of metal. The French people had the most of unbounded confidence in their Armada. “Never before,” wrote the Moniteur before the fleet set sail, “did there exist in Brest a fleet so formidable and well disposed as that now lying there.
Howe had 26 sail of the line and seven frigates; the French Admiral, Villaret-Joyeuse, who shared his authority with Saint Andre, a Deputy from the Convention, had the same number of ships of the line and five frigates. The French Admiral flew his flag on the Montagne, which also carried the Representative of the convention.
A General Chase
When the French fleet, which was to windward, have come within nine miles of the British, it hauled to the wind on the larboard tack and hove to. Some manoeuvring followed, but at nine o’clock (May 28th) it became evident that the enemy was declining the engagement, so Howe gave the signal for a general chase, the enemy to be engaged as the ships came up with him. The first shot in this long-drawn-out engagement was discharged at half-past-two, when the Russell, the foremost British ship, fired at the hindmost vessel of the French fleet. At six o’clock the Bellerophon, of 74 guns, reached the lee beam of the Revolutionnaire, carrying 120, pluckily attacked her, and stuck to her for over an hour, until she was disabled and had to sheer off. Other ships, singly or in couples, then tried their hands upon the great French ship, and in the end she was reduced to such a defenceless condition that to the last broadside of the Audacious she could only return three shots. Her loss in men was nearly 4--; and it was only with great difficulty that she reached Rochefort in tow of the Audacieux. Her assailants, however, did not come off scathe less, and the Audacious had difficulty in making her way to Plymouth.
The Disabled Ships
The next day (May 29th) Howe’s flagship, bearing the brunt of the fire of the French line, passed through it between the fifth and sixth vessels in the rear, but as she was followed only by the Bellerophon and the and the Leviathan, no advantage could be taken of this change of position. The rest of the English fleet had passed along the enemy’s line, and tackling astern of it were too far distant when they had regained the Charlotte’s wake to give her support. Three of the French ships, which had been disabled, were rescued by the skill of the French Admiral, who bore up with his whole fleet to their support, though in doing so he had to give up the weather-gage to his enemy. “The distant and dispersed state of the British fleet,” according to Howe, prevented any adequate steps being taken to circumvent the rescue of the three disabled ships. The Leviathon had her foremast crippled, and it was in danger of falling, and Howe stood to her help. In his “Journal” Lord Hugh Seymour, her captain, made a handsome acknowledgment of the timely succour.
Nothing decisive either on this or on the two succeeding days owing to fog; but on the morning of June 1st soon after seven o’clock, Howe signalled that he intended to attack the enemy’s centre, and that he should break through the enemy’s lines and engage to leeward; an hour later he ordered each of his ships to steer for the ship opposed to her in the enemy’s line.
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