Thomas Luny was born in London in 1759. He was a student of and assistant to Francis Holman. His first exhibition, at age sixteen, was at the Society of Artists. In 1781 he established his own studio in Stepney. From 1780 to 1793 he exhibited yearly at the Royal Academy. The latter date seems to have been his last exhibition until 1802.

In the interim he enlisted in the Royal Navy, serving as a purser under Captain George Tobin. Luny retired from the Navy by 1810, suffering from severe rheumatoid arthritis which confined him to a wheelchair and necessitated his holding a paintbrush in both hands or strapped to his wrist. Despite this disability, he painted over two thousand paintings between 1807 and 1835.

He kept an inventory of his work, recording the title and price of each and the name of the purchaser. His journal indicates that he was in Teignmouth in 1807, where he remained for the rest of his life. Toward the end of his career he hired an aissistant, Moses Gompertz, a painter of moving panoramas. Just before his death in 1837, one hundred thirty of Luny's works were exhibited in Old Bond Street.

Today he is recognized as one of England's most acclaimed marine painters, with works in museums throughout England, Europe, and America.

c Roger King Fine Art

The composition exists in a number of variants, most notably at the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich (dated 1821 but possibly as late as 1835). For an artist who had settled in Teignmouth, this heroic theme proved popular throughout Devon and Luny revisited the theme in different formats.

The 762-ton East Indiaman Dutton was built at Deptford and launched in July 1781. She was renamed Dutton having been built as Director. She sailed from Portsmouth under Captain James West on her maiden voyage to China via the Coromandel Coast of India in February 1782. She made subsequent trips to the East until 1795. In that year, the British government requisitioned her as troop transport for an expedition to the West Indies.

Her sailing from Portsmouth in October 1795 was soon thwarted by illness amongst most of her company. Returning to Plymouth Sound in January 1796, she ran ashore and the heavy seas soon broke her up. Edward Pellew, then stationed at Plymouth, happened to see the disaster unfolding as he was passing nearby on his way to dinner. He ran to board the vessel, now deserted by her officers, and used calm authority to get a line ashore. With assistance, everyone aboard was saved: Pellew was awarded a baronetcy for his quick thinking and selflessness. Edward Pellew, later Viscount Exmouth (1757-1833), was a distinguished frigate captain.

He was the son of the commander of a Dover packet and entered the Royal Navy in 1770, serving in the American War of Independence before capturing the first French frigate of the Revolutionary War (for which he was knighted). In 1797, he used wily skill to overcome the French vessel `Droits de l'Homme` and he was later promoted Rear-Admiral in 1804 before becoming Admiral of the Blue in 1814 and a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in 1815. Ennobled with a Viscountcy after success at Algiers in 1816, he was made Commander-in-Chief at Plymouth from 1817-21. A year before his death in 1833, he was promoted Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom.