HMS DREADNOUGHT, PORTSMOUTH, 1908 (MP183)

A B Cull (1880-1931).  Watercolour signed and dated 1908

This watercolour shows the newly commissioned HMS DREADNOUGHT lying to a buoy in Portsmouth Harbour. Although dates on paintings are no guarantee that the scene depicted is also of that same year, there is no reason to suggest that this is not 1908: DREADNOUGHT (Captain Charles Madden CVO RN) at that time was indeed wearing the flag of a vice admiral as painted here by Cull.

Vice Admiral Sir Francis Bridgeman KCVO - Commander-in-Chief Home Fleet - had hoisted his flag in the dreadnought battleship on 5 March 1907 shortly after she had returned from running trials in the Channel, West Indies and Mediterranean.. Some old “Wooden Walls” are shown moored up to the right of the painting with Portsdown Hill as backdrop and left of centre Cull has painted a starboard bow view of what appears to be a Second Class Protected cruiser, almost certainly of the Vindictive Class. Indeed the exceptionally tall mainmast painted here (and exceptional even by the standards of 1908 when mighty tall masts were in vogue!) suggests HMS VINDICTIVE herself. The navy’s experimental wireless ship at the time VINDICTIVE was able to communicate with other ships at ranges far exceeding others’ capabilities and for this reason she was stationed in mid-Atlantic in late November 1914 to act as wireless relay for Admiral Sturdee’s force when it went south to hunt down Admiral von Spee off the Falklands. VINDICTIVE was later to win immortality at the Zeebrugge Raid in 1918. In the left foreground with quarterdeck awning spread lies a Canopus, Formidable or Duncan class battleship which, with the commissioning of DREADNOUGHT, has become obsolete overnight despite being only some half a dozen years old herself.

Alma Claude Burlton Cull was indeed a master of marine paintings portraying technically accurate ships, delicate skies and beautifully painted water which always manages faithfully to reflect the light and is invariably alive with movement and bustle. The steam pinnace with vice admiral’s badge on the bows whispers her way on an inshore errand from the great battleship out at her buoy and into the dockyard. An important painting of a most important ship that was already revolutionising the design of capital ships around the world.

Limited Edition worldwide: 12 copies

Original size: 22.5 x 12 ins (57 x 30.5 cms) approx. Price band (incl mount/mat):£175-£190

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