DESCRIPTION: 'Galiote a bombe' or 'bomb galiote' is an antique folio-sized copperplate engraving created ca. 1690 by French galley Captain Henry Sbonski de Passebon. This original antique engraving is the earliest readily available rendering of a bomb vessel. No doubt de Passebon was intimately familiar with this type ship- he is reported to have participated in the French bombardment of Genoa in 1684. Engraved by Claude Randon, this example is one of 17 ship engravings in a collection of nautical architecture plates first published from Marseille where, in the late 17th century the arsenal was home port to the galley service of Louis XIV.
A 'Bomb Vessel' or 'Bomb Ketch' was typically 60 to 70 feet long and drew 8 or 9 feet of water. This relatively shallow draft would have enabled the vessels to approach closer to their target, One authoritative source defines 'Bomb Vessel' : as "a ship of the old sailing navies armed with one or occasionally two, heavy howitzers or mortars and used for bombarding places ashore. Mostly the mortars were fitted in ketches either specially built or converted into such from a small three-masted vessel by the removal of her foremast to provide a good deck space forward for the mortars. When employed in bombardment, bomb vessels were moored in position with springs on their cables so that the ships themselves were trained for the mortars to fire on the desired bearing."(Oxford Companion to Ships and The Sea, Peter Kemp, ed. Oxford University Press. London, 1976, p. 93.) In this example it can be seen clearly that the foremast had been removed as described above.
De Passebon was stationed at Marseilles as a Lieutenant in the Corps des Galeres during the period that he produced the drawings from which these plates were engraved.
PUBLICATION DATE: 1690
GEOGRAPHIC AREA: France
BODY OF WATER:
CONDITION: Good
On heavy wove paper. Strong impression and platemark. Repaired splitting at centerfold near margin . Two vertical folds as issued.
COLORING: Meticulous modern hand-color.
ENGRAVER: Claude Randon
SIZE: 22
" x
17 "
ITEM PHYSICAL LOCATION: 0
PRICE: $2400
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