5 of 7 April 2023 The 1805 Dispatches #23.02 Last year, 2022 (for future readers), was the 500th anni-versary of the creation of the Swedish Navy. To commemorate this event Whittles Publishing launched an important book, The Baltic Cauldron: Two Navies and the Fight for Freedom, edited by Michael Ellis, Gustaf von Horfsten and Derek Law, with a Foreword by Christer Hägg*, Peter Hore (friend of The 1805 Club) and Carl-Johan Hagman, and with contributions from all of them plus John Hattendorf *, David Davies *, Thomas Engevall, Andrew Lambert, Eric de Saumarez*, Michael Rawlinson, Nils Modig and Göran Wallén. A veritable cornucopia of the talents of naval history today. The book covers all aspects of naval conflict from the beginning until today, and is gripping. The relevance to the international situation today is well presented. Highly recommended. The 1805 Club was not directly involved with the publication of this book, but is acknowledged as a sponsor, with John Rodgaard and Peter Turner as named individual sponsors. (* denotes a Member of The 1805 Club) THE BALTIC CAULDRON JAMES KEITH Master of HMS NEPTUNE at Trafalgar We often hear about the famous and the brave, but we do not often hear about the equally brave, but less famous. Especially when we are hearing about the history of navies of ‘our’ period. We were recently contacted by Gary Osborne-Clarke, descendant of James Keith, who was the Master of HMSNeptune(98) at the Battle of Trafalgar. Mr Osborne-Clarke wished to sell the paintings by auction. The contact originated through Peter Hore, who passed it on to us to see if any members were interested. It was publicised on our Facebook page, but the portraits failed to sell and the owner is now reconsidering and seeking a suitable home for them. Here is what the auction house (Clevedon Salerooms) said about the portraits: “Trafalgar Interest - Rare pair of 19th Century oil on canvas portraits, of James Keith (Master of HMS Neptune at the Battle of Trafalgar, 21st October 1805) and of his wife Lesley Keith (née Douglas), both depicted bustlength, he with white wing-collared shirt and Naval coat, she with lace bonnet, blue silk dress and mantle, 74cm x 61.5cm, (restored 1998), in gilt frames. Recorded in the family of the current owner (a descendant) is the existence of a letter, a transcript of which still exists and is reproduced[inpart] below: "H.M.S. Neptune. Off Cadiz November 1st, 1805 My Dear Mother, On the 21st of last month, as you will hear by the newspaper, our �leet fought the combined force of France and Spain and though we were much inferior in numbers, we gained a decisive victory, after four hours hard �ighting. Fifteen of their ships struck. Our loss has been great, in as much as Lord Nelson, our Commanderin-Chief was killed. His loss will long be felt by England as an of�icer. [……] If I thought there were any nautical men near you I would have detailed the action from the beginning to the end with notes, but not expecting that, I rest satis�ied with having told you that I have survived the �ight, and that I shall be very happy to hear the trumpet sound peace over all the world. May God continue you health and strength is the most earnest prayer, of, my dear Mother, Your affectionate son"” The owner of the portraits, Gary Osborn-Clarke, is now relieved that the portraits failed to sell at the auction, and has decided that they will be donated, or loaned to a museum where their history can be shared. In an email he said, “I would like to ask if any of you can help me with donations or loans? I have seen from the email addresses that some of you work for or are connected with the National Maritime museum? I have just submitted an online donation form for the two Trafalgar portraits. And I have also submitted a donation form to the National Museum of the Royal Navy. I am asking if you can help, as I don't know people in these organisations, and assuming that many of you are interested in anything relating to Trafalgar, hopefully you can help?” We intend to help Mr Osborne-Clarke with this project. In a future edition of The Kedge Anchor (to any nonmembers, KAis our Club magazine, available in print only to members) it is hoped that we will expand this brief mention into a full-sized article about James Keith, the family history and the fate of the portraits – and hopefully, where you can go and see them.
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