She had served her country well
and now her
day was past, and England mourned. The fighting "Temeraire", as John
Ruskin and other Englishman had called her, was the symbol of heroism at
sea. When the British and French fleets clashed at Trafalgar on 21 October
1805, the Temeraire was the second ship of the English line. Although
Admiral Nelson, the commander of the British fleet, died of a gunshot wound on
the deck of her sister ship, the "Victory", he had carried the day.
Outnumbered by six ships, his fleet of twenty-seven had trounced the
French. The Temeraire played an important part in the victory at
Trafalgar, which was to assure British supremacy at sea for another
century. She had decoyed French fire, which was aimed at Nelson and the
flagship, away from the Victory and had captured a prize. At the end of
the battle, as a contemporary records, she was almost hidden between two
French ships secured to her mainmast and her anchor.
Some thirty years later,
Joseph Mallord
William Turner was deeply moved watching the
gallant old ship being towed from Sheerness to the breakers yard at
Deptford. However, the brilliant painter of atmospheric effects and moods
was not just thinking of farewells. He was also looking forward to new
beginnings. In 1765, ten years before
Turner was born, James Watt had
triggered the Industrial Revolution in England by inventing the steam
engine. Turner was fascinated by the marvels of technology that were emerging all
around him. He was among the first to paint pictures, dramatically
experimental ones, of modern means of transportation, such as trains and
steamships. Both the magnificence and the threatening aspect of such
inventions are revealed in his paintings of them. An observer might find
symbolism in the Temeraire's last voyage: the tugboat towing her under
steam representing the New Order and all its ambivalence, the sailing
vessel the Old — already transfigured in memory.
