Signed by artist. Benjamin Hallowell was the brave but rather eccentric captain of the 'Swiftsure' (64 guns), which was one of Nelson's fleet at the Battle of the Nile in 1798. Whe the French flagship 'L'Orient' caught fire Hallowell - who knew she was likely to blow up - closed with her since he also knew that the larger ship's hull would direct the blast upwards and it would be safer to have the debris go over his head rather than be caught under it when it came down. This is what is shown in George Arnald's large oil painting of the explosion (BHC0509) where 'Swiftsure' is the ship in the middle. In the aftermath Hallowell salvaged part of 'L'Orient's' mainmast and had a wooden coffin made from it on board which he presented to Nelson as a gift, as shown here, against the day he would need it one way or another. Nelson initially kept it with him and later returned it to England. At the end of 1805 after Nelsons body was shipped hom following his death at Trafalgar, it was placed in an inner lead-lined shell made on 'Victory'. This in turn was placed in the 'L'Orient' coffin, and then all in a decorated outer coffin, in which Nelson both lay in state at Greenwich and was subsequently buried in St Paul's Cathedral on 9 January 1806. McCormick was a well-known painted and illustrator, who made something of a specialization of Nelsonic subjects. [PvdM 4/12].