This drawing and PAH4074, both by an unidentified hand, are rare if not unique contemporary images of Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Graves's action against the French West Indies fleet of the Comte de Grasse on 5 September 1781. This one shows the preliminaries of the action. The higher ground in the distance is Cape Henry on the southern side of the entrance to Chesapeake Bay. The low land to the right may be Cape Charles or the middle ground shoal, south of which the action was fought. De Grasse's superior force had managed to outflank the British on the American eastern seaboard and occupy the outer Chesapeake. This reinforced the American-rebel and French siege of General Cornwallis's army in Yorktown, Virginia, which was the only remaining major British land force in the '13 Colonies'. To lift the siege Graves would have had to inflict crushing defeat on the French fleet: all the latter had to do was to prevent him engaging closely enough to do so as a preliminary to retaking the Chespeake. This De Grasse's larger fleet had no difficulty in effecting: the French, after several days of prior manoeuvring, engaged in what proved a typically inconclusive line action, in which their tactics aimed to render British ships ineffective by damaging their rigging with comparatively distant fire, rather than risking close action. They then safely retreated into the bay at sunset, securing the siege until Cornwallis was forced to surrender to Washington's army on 19 October. In practical terms this confirmed the independence of what became the United States of America. De Grasse's fleet was roundly defeated by Admiral Rodney in April the following year at the Battle of the Saints (a group of islets north of Dominica) securing British dominance in the West Indies and thereafter, with a new balance of principally European powers established, the War of American Independence moved to a close with the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Variant names for the action are Battle of the Capes and Battle of the Chesapeake Capes.

These two drawings were acquired in 1958 and published in good facsimiles in 1970s: PAJ2282 is a reproduction of this one; PAJ2281 is a reproduction of PAH4074. There are also five duplicates of each, now respectively numbered ZBA5149-53 and ZBA5144-48. [PvdM 3/19]