The French cutter 'Renard'

This watercolour depicts the French cutter ‘Renard’ at sea with a three-masted ship visible on the horizon and a distant headland on the left. The vessel flies French colours, and several figures are visible on the deck. It is signed, bottom right, with the artist’s initials, ‘SM’. A note on the verso reads ‘Le Renard. French cutter drawn by my brother Samuel Marsingall RN. Received it May 17th, 1832’. This indicates that the artist gave the drawing to his brother, Richard Marsingall.

Samuel Marsingall (1786–1859) joined the Royal Navy at the age of eleven, became a lieutenant in 1807 and was invalided three years later. He subsequently made a living as an artist, specialising in silhouette portraiture. During the 1830s, he lived at Avranches in Normandy, and it was probably there that he made this watercolour. Financial difficulties may have prompted his cross-Channel move, the French Channel coast being a popular destination for British expatriates seeking to escape their debts. He subsequently returned to Britain, where he was granted an out-pension from Greenwich Hospital in 1841. He promoted to the rank of commander in 1843 and died in Somerset in 1859.

Launched in 1812, the ‘Renard’ was owned by businessman and slave-trader Robert Surcouf. He operated the vessel as a privateer out of Saint-Malo until April 1814. On 9 September 1813, the ‘Renard’ destroyed the British naval schooner ‘Alphea’ in a fierce overnight battle, returning to port with only thirteen members of the sixty-strong crew still able to work the vessel (the others were all either killed or badly wounded). This hard-fought victory instantly became a local legend. The story was recounted in tourist guidebooks throughout the nineteenth century and continues to be celebrated today.

Marsingall presumably heard about the story when he moved to Normandy. It is easy to imagine the locals taking gleeful pleasure in regaling a former British naval officer with the story of the triumph of the ‘Renard’ over the ‘Alphea’. Since the ‘Renard’ had been decommissioned, Marsingall probably based his depiction of the vessel on descriptions and his professional knowledge of ship design.

Naval officers were taught to draw as part of their training. The skill had important practical applications at sea, including in the creation of coastal profiles to aid with navigation. At the same time, drawing was a hobby that officers used to stave off boredom, to bond with shipmates and to record their experiences for loved ones at home.

Marsingall carried the skills of naval draughtsmanship into civilian life, using his artistic skills as a means of earning money through his practice as a professional artist and silhouette portraitist. As a gift for his brother, the watercolour of the ‘Renard’ shows how he also used drawing to connect with his family.