Lot 16: CIRCLE OF LT. ROBERT STRICKLAND THOMAS (BRITISH,

CIRCLE OF LT. ROBERT STRICKLAND THOMAS (BRITISH, 1787-1853) A Royal Occasion at Portsmouth Harbour, with ships of the Blue Squadron being moored by paddle tug Oil on canvas 18 x 27in. (46 x 68.5cm.) This interesting view of Portsmouth almost certainly shows H.M.S. Victory at anchor and flying the flag of an Admiral of the Blue, with vessels of a Blue squadron being moored nearby. The design of the tug, with its very tall funnel, and the costumes of the onlookers suggest a date of about 1830. The significance of the Royal Standard shown flying over a merchant's warehouse is, at present, unexplained although it has been suggested that the officer shown may possibly be William IV, either as King or as Duke of Clarence, before his accession, in the undress uniform of Admiral H.M.S. Victory, after being laid up at the end of 1812, served briefly as a Guard ship for six months from June 1823, before being made Port Admiral's flagship from January 1824, with a permanent mooring in the harbour where she remained until dry-docked in the 1921. The eventual introduction of steam-powered ships into the Royal Navy during the first half of the nineteenth century was a saga of epic proportions. Almost to a man, the naval establishment - still basking in the afterglow of Trafalgar - took the view that "the wooden walls of old England", which had been good enough for Nelson, would remain good enough to protect the British Isles well into the future despite significant technological advances. Steam, dirty and expensive as it was, was regarded with utter disdain and even the most strident efforts of the few forward-thinkers in the 'Senior Service' could only manage to produce one solitary exception to this entrenched opposition, the tug. Recognising the enormous value of being able to disregard both wind and tide, the Navy built its first tug, the Comet, at Deptford in 1822, and thereby began the tradition which still survives today in every naval dockyard in the world.