HMS Boadicea taking the Venus A2 Print

HMS Boadicea is here taking the French frigate, Venus, during the Mauritius Campaign of 1810. The battle I have chosen to depict is the short one between the HMS Boadicea and the French Venus.

During the early hours of the morning, on 18 Sept 1810, the French gave chase and captured the British ship, HMS Ceylon (previously known as HMS Bombay). By the time dawn broke, they were within sight of the British lookouts above Saint-Denis on Reunion island (Ile Bourbon). Within minutes the word had spread and HMS Boadicea had sailed, along with HMS Staunch and HMS Otter. The latter two were somewhat slower.

By the afternoon, Boadicea reached the captured Ceylon, now abandoned. Re-captured, the Ceylon hoisted the British colours again. Meanwhile the crippled French frigate Venus was still making repairs, whilst the french corvette Victor had been ordered back to  Mauritius with the news and possibly for assistance. With Venus, unable to escape, the Boadicea and Venus entered into a short battle. Around 10 minutes later the French surrendered.

In my Depiction of this engagement, Reunion Island can be seen on the horizon to the left. Then between that and the Boadicea is the Staunch and Otter. To the right of the painting, I placed the crippled Ceylon. This painting took me 67 hours to paint.