The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 1782

The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar
Artist	John Singleton Copley
Year	1783–1791
Type	Oil-on-canvas
Dimensions	302 cm × 762 cm (214 in × 297 in)
Location	Guildhall Art Gallery, London

The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar (also called The Siege of Gibraltar,The Siege and Relief of Gibraltar or The Repulse of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar) is the title of a 1791 oil-on-canvas painting by Boston-born American artist John Singleton Copley. It depicts the defeat of the floating batteries at Gibraltar during the Great Siege of Gibraltar. The Governor of Gibraltar, General George Augustus Eliott, is on horseback pointing to the rescue of the defeated Spanish sailors by the British.

The painting is based on an attack that took place in Gibraltar on September 13, 1782. The Great Siege of Gibraltar was an unsuccessful attempt by Spain and France to capture Gibraltar from the British during the War of American Independence. In September 1782 the Spanish formulated a secret weapon known as the Floating Batteries. Designed to fire on Gibraltar at close quarters with deadly accuracy, floating batteries were built of 1 metre (3 ft)-wide timbers packed with layers of wet sand, and were considered fire-proof and unsinkable. The British used heated shot to counterattack these batteries. These "hot potatoes," as they were nicknamed, were pre-heated to furnace temperatures before being fired at the advancing ships. Many were doused but a rogue heated shot could lie smouldering in the bowels of an enemy ship burning a cavity into the wood. Left long enough, these would eventually cause an inferno.

...
Wikipedia