In 1833, the marine painter John Christian Schetky produced a pair of oil canvases, depicting the salvage of the treasures of HMS 'Thetis', a fifth-rate, 46-gun frigate (see also BHC3661). Under the command of Captain S. Burgess, the ship sank on the 4 December 1830 after crashing into the rocks at the base of Cabo Frio, north of Rio de Janeiro, because the captain relied on dead reckoning rather than taking soundings. Among its valuable cargo were silver bars, plates, coins and some gold. Twenty-eight lives were lost and subsequent storms broke the wreck up, spreading its cargo over the sea-bed.

Created three years after the event, both paintings show the dramatic cliffs of the Cape Frio island under the contrasting weather conditions in which which the rescue operation was performed. To carry out the salvage operation, a naval party was encamped for nearly a year in a village of wood and grass huts on the island, enduring harsh life under tropical skies. The retrieval began soon after the sinking and a high proportion of the cargo was recovered. A net was stretched across the 480-foot entrance to the cove to prevent the cargo being washed away. Diving bells were constructed out of water tanks and with these suspended - first from a derrick and later from a cable stretched across the cove - the salvage operation was commenced in the very cold waters.

This painting shows the sheer cliffs of Cabo Frio pounded by waves. Figures can be seen on the top and the picture serves to highlight the dangers of the project. The cables are clearly visible hanging precariously from the cliffs while the rope ladder attached to them disappears beneath the foam. The palm trees and lush vegetation of the hills in the distance evoke an awareness of difference and the exotic.

On one level the paintings celebrate the triumph of man against the elements in an alien environment, yet also show the risks involved in retrieving a valuable cargo. The place is now called Thetis Cove.

Schetky was a Scottish painter who studied drawing with Alexander Nasmyth and embarked on a Continental tour in 1801. Initially drawing-master at the Royal Military College, Great Marlow, he was Professor of Drawing at the Royal Naval Academy, Portsmouth, from 1811 until it closed in 1836. He then fulfilled the same role at the East India College, Addiscombe, until his retirement in 1855 although he remained active as a marine painter until his death at the age of 95. His work was informed by close personal knowledge of the sea and his subjects ranged from ship portraits and royal embarkations to reconstructions of earlier sea battles of the time of Nelson. In 1820 he was made Marine Painter in Ordinary to George IV and was granted the same title by Queen Victoria in 1844. He frequently travelled on board the royal yacht and assisted the Queen with her own sketches. While at Portsmouth, he also supplied Turner with studies of the 'Victory', for his 1822-24 painting of the Battle of Trafalgar (BHC0565). The painting is signed and dated 1833.