3-061-775 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The bay of Naples with the British fleet at anchor, 1 August 1718. The Bay of Naples is said to be depicted with the British fleet at anchor on 1 August 1718 under the command of Sir George Byng. This scene is set a few days before the Battle of Passaro, off the south east corner of Sicily, in 1718 in which the Spanish fleet was destroyed by Byng on behalf of the Quadruple Alliance (Austria, Britain, France and the Netherlands). Byng was in the ship called the Barfleur and the ships of his two junior officers are flying Union flags, the custom at that station at the time