3-077-944 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Jack Crawford, the Hero of Camperdown, nailing the flag to the mast, 1890. 'The Earl of Camperdown unveiled, in the Mowbray Park, Sunderland, on Easter Monday, a statue of Jack Crawford, seaman, who nailed Admiral Duncan's colours to the mast of the flag-ship Venerable, after they had been shot away at the battle of Camperdown, Oct. 11, 1799. Crawford was a native of Sunderland, and died in 1831...The statue is the work of Mr. Percy Wood, sculptor, London, and the height of the group is 20 ft. 7 in. The sculptor has selected the moment when Jack is supposed to have ascended the mast as far as the cap, which rests on the summit of the pedestal. The colours are thrown over his left shoulder, and in his right band he holds a pistol, with the butt end of which he drives in the nails. This monument has been erected by the efforts of a local committee, of which the Mayor, Alderman George Barnes, the Marquis of Londonderry, the Earl of Camperdown, great-grandson of Admiral Duncan, and the Earl of Durham are members; its original promoters being Mr. R. B. Annison, Mr. F. Baverstock, R.N., and Mr. J. G. Brown, honorary secretaries, and Captain John Todd'. From "Illustrated London News", 1890.