Description
This album covers Edward Gennys Fanshawe's Baltic service in command of HMS 'Cossack' during the Crimean War, August 1854 - August 1855, and his brief transfer to the 'Hastings' in the Baltic and latterly at Queenstown (Cobh), Ireland, 1855-56, though on her return to England in late 1855 he was invalided ashore until rejoining the ship at Queenstown in January 1856. It also covers his command of the 'Centurion' in the Mediterranean from May 1856 to June 1858, when he was again invalided home. Also included are holiday drawings made in Scotland in 1843 and 1883, Switzerland in 1877 and 1880, and a single drawing of Moulmein, Burma, made in 1846 during his Eastern posting as Commander in the 'Cruizer', 1844-46.
No. 2 in Fanshawe's Baltic and later album, 1843 - 83. Captioned by the artist 'Kotka, 27th July 1855, Midnight', on the album page below the image. For the circumstances of the attack on the Kotka barracks, see PAI4673. Fanshawe's role, commanding the 'Cossack', was to guard the causeway bridge which linked Kotka island to the mainland, to prevent a Russian counter-attack. 'The marines guarding the bridgehead were keenly on the alert, for a Russian attack in force was very probable. Suddenly at midnight the general silence was broken by a great commotion; the men stood to arms, all eyes were strained into the darkness of the fir-wood on one side, or the glare of the burning barracks on the other. A few moments' tension, and the cause explained itself to be - a parson chasing a pig! The latter had been trying to escape from the burning buildings; the former had come from England in a yacht to witness naval operations in the Baltic. Piggy's fate was sealed, for the marines vigorously joined the chase, and all had roast pork for supper' (Fanshawe [1904] p. 327). Marines in the foreground advance to help dispatch the pig: the flames of the burning barracks behind illuminate the scene.
Image Licence
CC BY-NC-ND
Image Credit
© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
Location
Kotka, Kymenlaakso, Finland
Country
Finland
Medium
Watercolour
Tags
Category
People & Society
