Honour this Day - Geoffrey Huband

The original painting from which the cover of the Alexander Kent book was taken.

Oil on canvas signed lower left, framed.

Canvas size 20 x 28 inches (50.5cm x 71cm)

Geoffrey Huband writes:

ANTIGUA 1804 the final battle of HMS Hyperion
A prequal to Trafalgar.

England stood alone against France and the fleet of Spain .

Vice Admiral Ricard Bolitho is commissioned to hoist his flag in the veteran 74 gun ship HMS Hyperion leading a new squadron ordered to seek and engage the enemy fleet in the Caribbean. Victory comes at a cost, the loss of his own ship.

Whilst ships of this period were sunk as a result of battle damage, it was a less common event than might be imagined. Far more naval ships were lost as a consequence of misadventure, fire, wreck and the elements. In 1807 the Royal Navy lost 29 ships in this manner, a testament to the hazards which characterized naval life at that time.

The painting represents a poignant moment in the fictional life of Richard Bolitho, the demise of his ship.

As an artist I wanted to do justice to the author’s emotional description of events as Hyperion slipped below the waves with dignified grace taking with her a part of Bolitho’s life and memory. The composition depicts two ships in the smoke of battle, dark against light with the flag of the Vice Admiral of the Red defiantly flying at the foremast head of the sinking Hyperion.

There is a personal story attached to this painting. As an avid reader of the late Douglas Reeman I found the powerful imagery evoked by his writing, inspirational. Whilst I was painting abroad Douglas visited my studio in Mousehole and purchased a painting. On my return I was astonished to receive a letter from him asking if I would illustrate his book jackets for William Heinneman the publishers, thus began a relationship which spanned over 3 decades.

Honour this Day was the first of many commissions. The painting illustrated was the second version produced as a re-jacket some years after the original. By this time I knew Douglas well and understood more fully the emotional attachment he had both for the characters he created and the ships in which they served and fought. He endowered both with individual personalities.