Collecting Antique Naval Prints - Capture of La Minerve, June 24th 1795

Another print from James Jenkins The Naval Achievements of Great Britain.  These original prints are aquatint engravings on a medium weight wove paper and coloured by hand.  The Action of 24 June 1795 was a minor naval engagement fought in the Western Basin of the Mediterranean Sea during the French Revolutionary Wars.

​This print depicts the confrontation between two British and two French naval ships. Minerve was a French 40-gun frigate launched in 1794. On 23 June 1795, she and the 36-gun Artémise engaged the frigates HMS Dido and Lowestoffe. Minerve surrendered to the British, Artémise having fled, and was commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Minerve.

Above: Capture of La Minerve, June 24th 1795. Published May 1st 1816 at 48 Strand for J. Jenkins Naval Achievements.  From The Naval achievements of Great Britain and Her Allies from 1793 to 1817 by J. Jenkins.

How to Identify the Prints:
The original prints from "The Naval Achievements of Great Britain. From the Year 1793 to 1817" are aquatint engravings on a medium weight wove paper.  All the plates identify at bottom left Painted by T. Whitcombe and bottom right T. Sutherland (sculpt) who produced the aquatint engravings.  Some plates were engraved by Jeakes and Bailey after Whitcombe.  Each plate is accompanied by text pages describing the action, often with lists of ships captured or sunk, and excerpts from contemporary bulletins, dispatches, letters, and speeches.  The first edition appeared in 1817.  Early issues have watermarks of J. Whatman with the undated watermark IIS&S  on some plates. The vignette title page was uncoloured in the first issue.  The approx engraved image area of the plates are 7" x 10.25" (175mm x 260mm). Engraved plate mark area is approx 8.5 x 11.75 (215mm x 300mm). The folio sheet size is approx 11.5" x 14" (290mm x 355mm).

You can see more prints from Jenkins The Naval Achievements of Great Britain, From the Year 1793 to 1817 HERE.  If you're interested in a specific print and you cannot see it on my website please feel free to message me