Lot 152: Giovanni Schranz (Port Mahon 1794-1882 Malta)

Giovanni Schranz (Port Mahon 1794-1882 Malta)
H.M.S. Portland in the harbour of Malta, 1839
inscribed 'H.M.S. Portland under the command/of Captain D. Price in the/Harbour of Malta 1839' (on a label attached to the stretcher)
oil on canvas
13½ x 19½ in. (34.3 x 49.5 cm.)

Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 12 May 1972, lot 26.

A DISTINGUISHED PRIVATE COLLECTION
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 17.5% on the buyer's premium.
H.M.S. Portland, originally to be called Kingston but renamed when laid down, was one of the seven 'Java' class of prototype 24pdr. 50-gun frigates ordered in 1813 in response to the Royal Navy's controversial losses at the start of the Anglo-American 'War of 1812' the previous year.

Built at Plymouth under the direction of Master Shipwright Edward Churchill, Portland's keel was laid in August 1817 and she was launched by Lady Cochrane, the wife of the C. in C. at Plymouth, Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane, on 8th May 1822; due to the lack of post-Napoleonic Wars' employment however, she was laid up for the first twelve years of her life despite the Admiralty having spent £51,025 to build her and a further £12,006 to fit her out for sea. Measured at 1,476 tons and 173 feet long with a 44 foot beam, she originally mounted a main armament of 36-24pdrs. although this was reduced significantly in 1823 soon after she was launched.

First commissioned in May 1834 under the command of Captain David Price, Portland was sent out to join the Mediterranean Fleet based at Malta from where, in February 1837, she was chosen to take King Otto of Greece home to Athens after a visit. Back in Plymouth by 1840, Portland was laid up 'In Ordinary' until 1850 when she was refitted and sent to the Pacific flying the flag of Rear-Admiral Fairfax Moresby. During her four-year term there, she became the first British flagship to visit Vancouver (27th June 1851) but when she returned home in 1854, she was laid up for the last time and sold for breaking in 1862.