JON CHRISTIAN SCHETKY (EDINBURGH 1778-1874 LONDON)

On 12 December 1808 a squadron of British ships under the command of Commander Francis Augustus Collier of H.M.S. Circe sighted the French brig Cygne and two armed schooners anchored off the Pearl Rock, Martinique. The British immediately engaged the enemy and the ensuing fight lasted well into the following day when finally, with the assistance of newly arrived Amaranthe, the British emerged victorious. One of the ships under Circe’s command was the 18-gun sloop H.M.S. Stork captained by Commander George Le Geyt. As the Stork is the only British vessel seen in the present work it is likely that Le Geyt commissioned Schetky to commemorate, and exaggerate, his part in the action.

We are grateful to Michael Naxton for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.