The Battle of Camperdown - Oil on canvas by Geoff Hunt RSMA.

HMS Director at the battle of Camperdown, 11 October 1797.

This is a brilliant evocation of the decisive attack upon the Dutch fleet. 

Oil on linen, signed lower right, in a hand-finished gilt frame.

Canvas size: 24 x 36 inches (61cm x 91.5cm)
Frame size: 30 x 42 inches (76cm x 107cm)

Sold by Art Marine to a UK collector, 2018

Geoff Hunt's note:   Under the command of the pugnacious Captain Bligh, HMS Director played a significant part in the battle of Camperdown. Admiral Duncan's initially orderly approach to the Dutch fleet was abandoned once it appeared that the enemy would edge away into shallower water where the British would be at a disadvantage, upon which the ships of his two divisions raced each other to get into action as best they could. But this did not prevent at least four of the ships in Vice-Admiral Onslow's leeward division all claiming to have led the charge, or maintaining that they had been ordered to do so, and one of these was Bligh's Director... The scene is set at about 11.30 am. From the left, HMS Powerful surges up between Onslow's flagship Monarch (middle distance) and the Director herself. The ship catching a gleam of sunlight in the left far distance is Duncan's flagship Venerable. As one of Onslow's division, the Director wears the red ensign, while the flags at her fore topgallant are her identification code. In the battle itself, Director certainly played a full part, but perhaps not exactly as suggested in her logbook, where among other things it is claimed that she took the surrender of the Dutch Admiral's flagship Vryheid, an honour which was also claimed by two other ships.