The Wrightson and Isabella of Sunderland was a merchant collier with a small crew of eight men (five sailors and three boys) and a small armament (four guns and two swivels) engaged in the North Sea trade and commanded by Captain Richard Avery Hornsby (1699-1751). On 13 June 1744 Hornsby arrived off the Dutch coast at the Hague, along with three smaller ships with which he had sailed in convoy from Norfolk to unload his cargo of malt and barley.
When the Isabella arrived, there were numerous fishing boats offshore, among which the Marquis de Brancas, was hiding. It was a larger ship under the command of a Captain André she was a French privateer, with a crew of 75 men, ten guns, and eight swivels, besides 300 small arms. As the others in the convoy had quickly scattered, she had chosen the Isabella as her prey. Like any privateer, André was of course intent on capturing a valuable prize rather than destroying it, and his first attack on the Isabella was with small arms only.
Hornsby’s answer was his swivel guns, with which he twice managed to prevent the French from boarding the ship on the port side. The French kept trying to board the small ship, but failed again and again until he succeeded. However, the 7 fought to the death, beating Frenchman after Frenchman. Andre had to send new men again and again, and once they had taken cover behind the main mast when Hornsby fired on them again with his blunderbuss. He had not realised that it had been double-loaded in the heat of battle, and when he fired, the weapon burst, throwing him to the ground, wounded but still defiant. As boarding proved too costly, Captain André pulled his men back aboard the Brancas and broke off, apparently more determined to destroy - and take revenge - than to capture a prize. Another distant gun battle ensued, hitting the Brancas on her waterline and forcing her to pause for repairs. The Isabella, barely able to swim, also received a quick repair, for it was too late to escape. The spectacle, which took place near the coast, quickly became a crowd puller.
After the leak was stopped, the Brancas returned to give the crippled Isabella her coup de grace. She crossed under the stern of the Isabella and exposed her to a volley of small arms fire, a musket ball hitting Hornsby on the temple. He bled profusely but was otherwise not seriously wounded. Brancas now fired three broadsides at the Isabella, but was driven off by another lucky hit from the waterline. A hurried repair was all that was needed to get the ship moving again - another five broadsides were fired into the Isabella’s hull, and André again demanded that Hornsby surrender at last. When his demand was refused, he ordered his men to bring Brancas alongside to board another ship, which they refused. They had had enough and André had no choice but to break off the fight after 7 hours.
Not this event here, but it shows what it might have looked like- A View of His Majesty’s Brigg Observer, Commanded by Lieut. John Crymes (to whom this print is inscribed) Engaging the American Privateer Ship Jack, John Ropes (commander), by Night on the 29th of May 1782, Off the Harbour of Hallifax, Nova Scotia”. Aquatint by Robert Dodd, 1784, by Robert Dodd (x)
The Isabella fired one last time and made the hit of all hits. The shot went through the weakened hull and hit the magazine. The gunpowder inside exploded and in a huge fireball it tore the Privateer apart, ultimately saving only three survivors. The crew of the Isabella, themselves badly damaged, crawled to the shore and were taken care of.
The courage of Hornsby and his crew was deservedly recognised. Three months later, at Kensington Palace, King George II presented him with a gold medal and chain worth £100, while each of his crew members - who apparently all survived - was awarded £5 each, though the boys were awarded £2.
Hornsby, however, lived only seven more years and died at sea after a long illness.
