A painting showing Rear Admiral Graves’s flagship ‘Ramillies’ on 16 September 1782. Under instruction from Admiral Rodney, she was on her way home to England from the North American Station. She was conducting English ships in need of repair, French prizes and a merchant convoy. The ships ran into a gale on the Newfoundland Bank.

This painting captures the moment after the storm when the decision is made to set the ‘Ramillies’ on fire, to destroy her. The painting shows her ablaze in the central foreground with other ships from the convoy close by.

This painting is the last of a set of five showing the incident, including, ‘Before the Storm Breaks’ (BHC2212), ‘On her beam ends’, ‘Bearing away’ and ‘Abandoned’. There was also a set of aquatints from the paintings. The misfortunes and sufferings of this fleet would loom large even in a history of shipwrecks. The painting is signed ‘R. Dodd 1783’.