Technique includes etching.

Thompson was one of Nelson's 'band of brothers' at the Battle of the Nile in 1798, commanding the relatively small 'Leander'. He was afterwards detailed to take Nelson's flag captain, Edward Berry, home with the dispatches but off Crete ran into the only two French line of battle ships which had escaped and French frigates. Thompson lost a leg in the action that ensued but eventualy had to surrender to superior force, having thrown the dispatches and other papers, including personal letters, overboard (which is why there are few immediate eyewitness accounts of the Nile). He and Berry were soon exchanged and Thompson fought at Copenhagen with Nelson (commanding the 'Bellona') and later became Comptroller of Greenwich Hospital. Though he did not die at Greenwich his body was interred in the Hospital Mausoleum, beside the NMM, and a commemorative monument to him still stands nearby in what are now the grounds of Devonport House. He is shown here wearing his Nile medal. [PvdM 5/10]