English: The full plate negative depicts a picture or part of a picture of the battle of the first of June between the Royal Navy and the French revolutionary fleet. The stern of BELLEISLE appears at inner right [Inscribed BELLEISLE], dismasted by cannon fire. Its crew clamber on the sails and rigging attempting to repair it. The union jack flies from its stern. A long boat rows toward it at inner left corner. A Royal Navy man-of-war appears at centre. Other battleships appear on the horizon.

This photo is part of the Australian National Maritime Museum’s William Hall collection. The Hall collection combines photographs from both William J Hall and his father William Frederick Hall - the latter of which is likely to have taken this image. The images provide an important pictorial record of recreational boating in Sydney Harbour, from the 1890s to the 1930s – from large racing and cruising yachts, to the many and varied skiffs jostling on the harbour, to the new phenomenon of motor boating in the early twentieth century. The collection also includes studio portraits and images of the many spectators and crowds who followed the sailing races.
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Object number 00013832