Lot 322: Petrus Nefors (Belgian, 1790-1876) H.M.S."Castor" running down the Cameleon (sic) cutter off Dover

Signed with initials P.N., inscribed and dated Aut 27 1834, reverse painting on glass. 48.2 x 61 cms (19 x 24 ins) At 6.15am. on 27th August 1834, the large 80-ton revenue cutter "Chameleon" was lying-to off the Shakespeare Cliff at Dover when she was run down by the 36-gun frigate H.M.S. "Castor" in perfect visibility. Witnesses who had just observed "Castor" passing Dover harbour stated her speed to be about 10 knots and such was the force of the impact when she hit "Chameleon" that the cutter sank almost immediately. Two men and two boys jumped overboard and were picked up by the "Castor" but thirteen men, including her captain Lieutenant John Pratbent, R.N., were trapped below decks and drowned. The commander of the "Castor", Captain Lord John Hay, was asleep at the time of the accident and it was his officer of the watch, Lieutenant James Johnson McCleverty, who was subsequently court-martialled, found guilty of negligence and dismissed the service. Newspaper coverage of the incident was extensive and unanimous in its condemnation of "Castor", one particularly critical report stating: "Perhaps a more extraordinary accident never occurred. It was broad daylight. The frigate must have had the cutter in full sight for 7 miles, and she bore straight upon her, under her top-gallant sails, going with a spanking northerly breeze, from 12 to 14 knots an hour, took the cutter full amidships, and drove her to the bottom in an instant, with scarcely a shock to herself." Photocopied extracts from several contemporary newspapers are included in the lot.