print;
satirical print
- Museum number
- 1868,0612.1209
- Title
- Object: A sketch of the engagement under the command of Vice Admiral Parker on the Dogger Bank with the Dutch squadron of much superior force Augt 5. 1781
- Description
-
A plan of the naval engagement of 5 Aug. 1781, showing the English coast from the Wash to Ipswich and the Dutch coast west and east of the Texel. The English ships, the Dutch fleet in action, and the Dutch convoy are indicated by letters ("A" to "Q"). The English ships are named, and a flag above the surface of the sea shows "A 74 Dutch ship sunk in 22 fathoms of water". The title and the key to the letters indicating the ships are engraved in a rectangle inset at the lower left corner. This rectangle partly conceals an English sailor who strikes with his fist the head of a disconsolate Dutchman, who makes no resistance. The sailor says, "Bla------t my Eyes Get Back in the Texel". The Dutchman says "I'm sinking". 11 August 1781
Etching
- Production date
- 1781
- Dimensions
-
Height: 251 millimetres
-
Width: 355 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', V, 1935)
This engagement was claimed by the English and Dutch as a victory: the Dutch losses exceeded the British, the British homeward-bound convoy returned safely, the Dutch convoy, outward-bound, returned to the Texel in disorder. See W. M. James, 'The British Navy in Adversity', 1926, pp. 310 ff. It was the subject of many Dutch prints, see 'Van Stolk', BMSat 4365-84, 4387-9. (BMSat 4385 and 4386 are English prints of the battle.)
Parker's letter (not dispatch) of 6 Aug. was published in an 'Extraordinary Gazette' of 9 Aug., which suggests that the print may be ante-dated.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0612.1209