Trafalgar Campaign--Volume of of sea charts

large folio (approximately 615 x 540mm.), 16 double-page charts, loosely inserted manuscript "Plan of Oran and Marzaquiver Bay 15 July 1805 by E. Soper HMS Tonnant" (365 x 460mm.), loosely inserted printed chart (335 x 480mm.), ship's canvas over marbled boards, scattered staining, a few repairs, creasing, occasional marginal tears and loss

Captain William Brown, ink inscription on verso of front free endpaper; Admiral Sir Charles Tyler; thence by descent

Condition is described in the main body of the catalogue, where appropriate.
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THE CHARTS THAT ARE SAID TO HAVE GUIDED HMS TONNANT TO TRAFALGAR. This volume of sea charts comes by descent from Admiral Sir Charles Tyler (1760-1835, see also previous lot), a veteran of the Mediterranean Squadron under Hood and Nelson in the 1790s, and of the Battle of Copenhagen. In early 1805 he was given command of the 80-gun HMS Tonnant, a ship which had been captured from the French at the Battle of the Nile. He captained the Tonnant at Trafalgar. The ship was fourth in the lee line and lost 26 dead and fifty wounded, with Tyler himself being hit by a musket-ball in the thigh, but took three Spanish prizes. Tyler was promoted to rear-admiral in 1808 and from 1812-15 he commanded the Cape of Good Hope station.

The volume includes a manuscript plan of Oran and Mers El Kébir, Algeria, in the hand of Edward Soper, Master of HMS Tonnant. The journals of Frederick Hoffman, a Lieutenant on the Tonnant, record that the ship "anchored in Oran roads to procure bullocks for the squadron" in the summer of 1805, when she was part of the fleet stationed off Cadiz.  

It seems that Tyler acquired this volume of charts from Captain William Brown, who had commanded HMS Ajax at the Battle of Cape Finisterre against the Combined Franco-Spanish fleet on their return from the Caribbean, on 22 July 1805. Brown failed to engage the fleet and consequently missed Trafalgar, as he was summoned back to England to explain his behaviour. According to Tyler family tradition, Captain Brown had a close relative on the Tonnant - a fifteen year-old midshipman from Plymouth, also called William Brown, who was killed at Trafalgar.