Whitcombe also painted smaller frigate actions, including Dryad's fight with Proserpine on 13 June 1796. France had sent a squadron into the Atlantic to damage British trade as its war effort struggled. The ships named are Tribune, Tamise, Proserpine, and Légère. Tribune, Tamise, and Légère encountered HMS Unicorn and HMS Santa Margarita, while Proserpine met HMS Dryad in a separate action. Proserpine's fight lasted about forty-five minutes. All four French vessels were eventually captured, including Légère. The sequence follows a commerce-raiding force broken up through separate encounters with British warships.
Chapter · 21:22-23:54
The broken French commerce-raiding squadron of June 1796
Follow a French Atlantic raiding squadron as British frigates broke it up through several separate encounters, including Dryad's fight with Proserpine.