The Duke of Athol, East Indiaman
According to a supposed eyewitness account provided by "T.P." to The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Volume 11 in 1828, the Duke of Athol, East Indiaman had just docked in the Madras Roads on the coast of Coromandel in April of 1783 when a fire broke out in the spirit room. The captain and four of the crew had left the ship to announce its arrival to the Governor, leaving "all the rest of the crew, passengers, and a number of recruits for different regiments, with their wives and children ...exceeding the number of three hundred persons." Boats from other ships in the harbor rushed to the Duke of Athol to help put out the fire. "All the boats' crews, with their officers, went on board, leaving only one man to take care of the different boats." But in spite of their efforts, the fire soon spread to gunpowder room causing the whole ship to explode. A few moments later "the entire Bay was covered with the wrecks of the ship and the mutilated bodies of the unfortunate sufferers." According to M.T.W. Payne (Burlington Magazine), Thomas Rowlandson's brother James was among the sailors from other ships who were killed in the blast.
© Trustees of the British Museum
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Gillray shows the scene just as the ship is exploding. One of the rescue boats with at least one wounded sailor is being rowed away from the burning ship. Another is still approaching the wreck. Other boats can be seen in the harbor.
The British Navy was involved in one war or another for most of Gillray's life, and prints of naval battles and disasters at sea were popular at home, since most people would have known someone of their relation in the naval service. Gillray probably hoped that prints such as this one and The Nancy Packet [1784] would have established him as a serious engraver of such prints. Fortunately for the history of caricature, it did not.
Sources and Reading
- Commentary from the British Museum on The Duke of Athol, East Indiaman
- The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Volume 11
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