Corvette struck by lightning
Date
1847
After
Nicholas Matthew Condy (1806 - 1851, British) , Painter
Object type
Library reference
Tracts 406/7/2
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 130mm
width (print): 208mm
width (print): 208mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Landscape showing the Royal Navy vessel H.M.S.Dido being struck by a lightning off Java Head (Java, Indonesia).
Plate from the monograph Remarkable instances of the protection of certain ships of Her Majesty’s Navy, from the destructive effects of lightning by W. Snow Harris ((London, 1847).
The illustration is inscribed below: ‘PROTECTION OF H.M. CORVETTE DIDO. From a Perilous Stroke of Lightning off Java. May 1847 (from a drawing by N.M. Condy Esq.).’
Accompanying text describes the event: ‘The general and permanent system of protection from lightning now under consideration, experienced in this ship a most severe trial, off Java Head, in May last, 1847, in the course of her passage to New Zealand…a vivid and fierce discharge fell aloft, in a double or forked current, upon the main royal-mast…It vanished, as it were, in the sea, effectively conducted through the ship, which nevertheless felt the shock through her whole frame.’
Sir William Snow Harris (1791-1867) British natural philosopher and expert on lightning protection was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1831. He championed the idea of using lightning conductors on sailing ships. H.M.S Beagle was among the early test vessels.
Plate from the monograph Remarkable instances of the protection of certain ships of Her Majesty’s Navy, from the destructive effects of lightning by W. Snow Harris ((London, 1847).
The illustration is inscribed below: ‘PROTECTION OF H.M. CORVETTE DIDO. From a Perilous Stroke of Lightning off Java. May 1847 (from a drawing by N.M. Condy Esq.).’
Accompanying text describes the event: ‘The general and permanent system of protection from lightning now under consideration, experienced in this ship a most severe trial, off Java Head, in May last, 1847, in the course of her passage to New Zealand…a vivid and fierce discharge fell aloft, in a double or forked current, upon the main royal-mast…It vanished, as it were, in the sea, effectively conducted through the ship, which nevertheless felt the shock through her whole frame.’
Sir William Snow Harris (1791-1867) British natural philosopher and expert on lightning protection was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1831. He championed the idea of using lightning conductors on sailing ships. H.M.S Beagle was among the early test vessels.
Associated place