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Pair of naval action aquatint scenes by Robert Dodd, commemorating two nighttime engagements between HMS Sylph, an 18-gun brig-sloop under the command of Charles Dashwood, and a significantly larger French frigate, believed by British accounts to be the Artémise, mounting 44 guns. These encounters, on 31 July and again on 28 September 1801, took place in the closing months of the French Revolutionary Wars, and were among the last sea actions before the Peace of Amiens.
In both prints, Dodd employs dramatic nocturnal lighting to amplify the suspense of combat. A full moon breaks through cloud cover to catch the sails and stern galleries, while the bright flashes of cannon fire illuminate gunports and tear across smoke-filled decks. The first plate captures the initial engagement off the coast of Spain, with Sylph closing on the French ship’s weather quarter. The second, subtitled “A second time engaging…”, shows a renewed fight at even closer range, with the ships nearly bow-to-bow, veiled in smoke. Despite the disparity in firepower, the French ship disengaged on both occasions, an outcome noted in the second caption, which praises Dashwood and his crew for forcing a retreat “notwithstanding the superior force.”
Robert Dodd (1748–1815), a London-based marine artist and engraver, specialized in contemporary naval scenes and was known for publishing timely and patriotic prints tied to news of the day. These two works, issued from his Charing Cross shop, are clearly part of an effort to publicize and support Dashwood’s actions. The inscriptions are explicitly dedicated to Dashwood and his crew, suggesting they may have been commissioned or endorsed by them to bolster public recognition and official promotion, something Dashwood eventually received after a long career in the Caribbean.
![Marine, Fig. 1 Coupe d'un Vaisseau dans toute sa longeuer. Fig. 2. Coupe d'une Galere dans toute sa longueur [Navy: Figure 1. Cross-section of a vessel in all her length; Figure 2. Cross-section of a galley in all her length]](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/88588.jpg)
