Derek G M Gardner, RSMA
HM frigate Medusa, 32 guns
7¾ x 12¾ ins
The artist’s original text that accompanied this painting reads:
The Medusa had the distinction of acting as Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson’s flagship when he was appointed to Command the preparations thought necessary in 1801 to counter the invasion threat posed by the massive build up of men and vessels along the north coast of France.
The ship was built at Northfleet on the Thames as one of an effective and popular type of 32-gun frigate of which there were over thirty on active service when she was built in 1801. Under Nelson she attacked the invasion flotilla at Boulogne. Although the damage done appears to have been small, no doubt at the time word of it helped to raise morale in the same way that air bombardment of the German invasion vessels at Boulogne and other ports did a hundred and thirty nine years later.