The Fighting Temeraire

The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last berth to be broken up, 1838 - J. M. W. Turner

Tam mentions the The Fighting Temeraire, I'd never heard of it so I follow the link and find this little bit:

The Fighting Temeraire, tugged to her last berth to be broken up, 1838 is an oil painting by the English artist Joseph Mallord William Turner, painted in 1838 and exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1839.

The painting depicts the 98-gun HMS Temeraire, one of the last second-rate ships of the line to have played a role in the Battle of Trafalgar, being towed up the Thames by a paddle-wheel steam tug in 1838, towards its final berth in Rotherhithe to be broken up for scrap.

The painting hangs in the National Gallery, London, having been bequeathed to the nation by the artist in 1851. In a poll organised by BBC Radio 4's Today programme in 2005, it was voted the nation's favourite painting. In 2020 it was included on the new £20 note.

The Battle of Trafalgar is one of the high points of the British Royal Navy's war with Napoleon and as such, it is a touchstone for all the Royal Navy officers appearing in Patrick O'Brian's epic saga. I have just started volume 9, Treason's Harbor.

I was surprised to see a steamship in operation that early, perhaps because I don't have a landmark date for when steamships became common. Maybe there isn't any specific date, maybe the best we can say is that all through the 19th Century, steam was slowly supplanting sail and it wasn't until maybe WW1 that it was the dominant method of propelling ships.

I am surprised that this painting is held in such high regard. It doesn't do much for me. Maybe it looks better in person.