Admiral howe stands in a boat formed of a gold shell and drawn by two dolphins (as in bmsat 8469) towards the coast, where there is a stone with a hand pointing to torbay. He covers his eyes with a hand to protect them from a shower of guineas which fill his boat and which he holds up the skirt of his coat to collect. The dolphins spout guineas. His large union flag is attached to an upright trident; a blast of coins strikes the flag, tearing a large hole. The coins are blown from the mouths of winged cherubic heads wearing bonnets-rouges (right). They drive howe's boat away from 'brest', a fortress on the horizon towards which a french fleet is sailing unmolested. Howe says: "zounds, these damn'd hail stones hinder one from doing ones duty! - i cannot see out of my eyes for them! - ah! it was just such another cursed peppering as this, that i fell inn with, on the coast of america in the last war; - what a deuce of a thing it is, that whenever i'm just going to play the devil, i am hinder'd by these confounded french storms, or eke, loose my way in a fog. " 10 december 1793
hand-coloured etching. Date: 1793. Dimensions: Height: 315 mm; Width: 363 mm. Medium: paper. Depicted People: Adm Richard Howe, Earl Howe. Collection: British Museum. A French hail storm,-or-Neptune loosing sight of the Brest fleet- (BM 1868,0808.6318)
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