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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;SBSVC, post: 3672046, member: 136&quot;]I forwarded this to my favorite military historian (DH!) for his opinion. Here&#039;s his answer:</p><p><br /></p><p><i>the one on the left is british - it flies the red ensign (red flag, with the union jack in the top left quadrant).</i></p><p><i>the only ships in the royal navy that flew that flag belonged to its &#039;Red Squadron&quot;&nbsp; (after 1864 the red ensign was retired and replaced with the white ensign; only merchant ships now fly the red ensign)</i></p><p><i>so this puts it before 1864</i></p><p><i>this is a ship of the line ..ie.&nbsp; a battleship, and by the looks of her a 74-gunner&nbsp; (a &#039;third rate&#039; ship of the line....</i></p><p><i>it is odd, however, that she does not seem to have her masts....it was not uncommon to lose one or even two masts in a sea battle of the era, but all of them?&nbsp; she was taking a major pounding</i></p><p><i>so was the ship opposite.&nbsp; her has a french ensign....but this particular flag was flown by the Republic in the 1790s....it was later replaced by Napoleon with a different ensign.</i></p><p><i>she too appears to be a 74 gunner......the 74s were not the biggest warships in either navy (those would be the 80, 90, 100 and 120 gunners which were the 1st and 2nd raters )...but they were the mainstay....like heavy cruisers.</i></p><p><i>as to WHICH pair of ships.....1794-95.&nbsp; red squadron&nbsp; duel with a french warship....both so heavily damaged as to be unable to sail...</i></p><p><i>too early for trafalgar (1805) or Cape Saint Vincent (1797) or Battle of the Nile (1798)</i></p><p><i>there are so damn many of these</i></p><p><i>it looks similar to this one (arethuse vs hms amelia) but of course it isn&#039;t...these are frigates, smaller, and the brit is on the starboard (right) of this painting, whereas the brit is on the port (left) of the one suggested here</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>sooooooo&nbsp; my best guess is it is based on this famous painting of the Glorious First of June, which is in 1794 - the right period for the ensigns.</i></p><p><i>the british ship is HMS Brunswick. but she is between the Achille and vengeur du peuple</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>[ATTACH=full]310134[/ATTACH] </i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>Naval battles are not my &quot;main area&quot; of expertise, so this is only my best guess.</i>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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