—-Divine service as it is usually performed on board a British frigate at sea– Augustus Earle (c.1820-37)

“The cramped ship-board service has provided this opportunity for close observation and detail. The service takes place on the gun deck above
that of BHC1118, with daylight visible through the hatches. A capstan
runs vertically through the centre of the image, and the companion
ladder is empty. There is a clear division between the Navy to the left
and marines to the right. An admiral, wearing a pig-tail, looks at a
book at a table covered with a flag, sitting on a chair draped with the
union flag. In front of him a midshipman possibly reads a lesson from
the Bible, attended to in varying degrees by the assembly. There are
five figures behind the Admiral’s table. A naval officer far left a hand
in his pocket, turns away from the assembly and his smile invites the
viewer to question the content of his book. Behind him a fellow officer,
feet resting on a cannon, appears to sleep. To his right, a marine
colonel catches the eye of another marine officer standing on the far
right, and at his feet a small midshipman sits on a stool holding one
bible while another lies unopened on the deck.

In the foreground to the right, a naval officer appears to be asleep,
with an open picture book resting on his lap, and a hat lies discarded
nearby. Other naval officers are seated facing the admiral apparently in
various attitudes of boredom and, in the background, one sailor seems
to have been chastised for inattention by a naval officer bearing a
stick. On the right, none of the seated marines, with attitudes varying
from attending to yawning, holds a book. One woman, her arms folded, is
portrayed in the front row. A military drum is suspended above the
marines’ heads. The impression of cramped space is accentuated by the
sick man in the cradle, his head propped in his hand as he reads from
the open book, immediately above the marines. A figure visible only by
the top of his head may be a prisoner. Various objects hang from the
bulkheads and beams, baskets of cannon balls, axes, a slate, hourglass,
lantern and key. The two parrots are enclosed in their cage and
underscore the sailors’ and marines’ enforced predicament and duty,
since religion played little part in a seaman’s life. Exhibited at the
Royal Academy in 1837, it forms a companion piece to BHC1118.

The artist used his numerous watercolour sketches made on board HMS
‘Hyperion’, during a voyage to Rio de Janeiro in 1820, and his later
journey in the ‘Beagle’ with Darwin as official artist. Some of the
figures may be portraits observed on those voyages.” (x)

—- Captain Charles Saxton- James Northcote (c.1794-95)

“Saxton joined the Navy in 1745 and was promoted to lieutenant on the East Indies station by Rear-Admiral Watson in 1757. A captain in 1762,
he commanded the ‘Magnanime’, 74 guns, in home waters until the end of
the Seven Years War in 1763. In the following year he was given command
of the ‘Pearl’, 40 guns, and was sent to the Gulf of St Lawrence. In
1778, in the American War, he commanded the ‘Invincible’, 74 guns, and
went with Hood to the West Indies to reinforce Rodney. He was thus
present at the action off St Kitts in January 1782 but missed the Battle
of the Saints in April the same year, since the ‘Invicible’ had already
been despatched to Jamaica. In 1789 he was appointed the resident
Commissioner at Portsmouth dockyard, and was created a baronet by George
III when the king visited Portsmouth in 1794. He is believed to be
wearing his commissioner’s uniform in the portrait, which has
incorporated the main gates of Portsmouth dockyard in the left
background with the royal standard on a staff, commemorating the king’s
visit.” (x)

—- Captain Sir Philip Bowes Vere Broke- Samuel Lane (c. 1812-1825)

“Philip Bowes Vere Broke left school aged twelve to join the Royal Naval Academy at Portsmouth. In June 1792 he was in the sloop ‘Bulldog’ under Captain George Hope. In August 1793, still with Hope, he was in the ‘Éclair’ at the occupation of Toulon and the siege of Bastia. Between May 1794 and June 1795 he was in the ‘Romulus’ before briefly appointed to the ‘Britannia’ and then on 18 July to the frigate ‘Southampton’, as third lieutenant, in which he saw action at Cape St Vincent on 14 February 1797. In 1798 Broke was appointed to the frigate ‘Amelia’ in the Channel Fleet and then promoted commander on 2 January 1799 and appointed to the brig ‘Falcon’ and then the sloop ‘Shark’ in the North Sea under Lord Duncan. He was promoted captain on 14 February 1801 and was without a post for four years. In April 1805 he gained command in the frigate ‘Druid’ before moving to the ‘Shannon’, a 36-gun frigate, on 31 August 1806. Broke was employed protecting whalers of Spitsbergen and cruising the Bay of Biscay and the western approaches to Channel, seeing occasional action. The ‘Shannon’ was posted to Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1811. War broke out between Great Britain and the United States on 18 June 1812. Broke used his time off the North American coast to train his crew to a high degree, especially in gunnery, where he employed target practice. In May 1813, off Boston, the ‘Shannon’ kept a close watch on the US frigate ‘Chesapeake’. This developed in an action on 1 June with Broke’s efficient crew able swiftly to overwhelm the Americans. Broke took ‘Shannon’ alongside the American frigate and, shouting ‘Follow me who can!’, boarded the ‘Chesapeake’ with fifty or sixty men. Broke was seriously wounded by a cutlass blow to the head, but the fighting was short-lived and, within fifteen minutes of the ‘Shannon’ first opening fire, British colours were raised on the captured ‘Chesapeake’. Broke was made a baronet on 3 November 1813 and KCB on 3 January 1815. The brilliant action against the ‘Chesapeake’ was both the high point and the end of his naval career. His head injury caused him health problems, which were aggravated by a fall from his horse; he died in London during a series of operations to relieve pressure on his brain.” (x)