Captain Constantine John Phipps, 1744-92, 2nd Baron Mulgrave<br><p>A head-and-shoulders portrait facing to the right and looking towards the viewer. Set in a painted oval, the sitter wears captain's full dress of over three years seniority, 1774 - 87. In 1773 Phipps led an Arctic expedition towards Spitsbergen in an unsuccessful attempt to find a north-eastern passage to India. In this he sailed in the bomb-ketch 'Racehorse' in company with the 'Carcass' (also a 'bomb' under Captain Skeffington Lutwidge). Nelson, then a midshipman, was among the crew of the latter. 
</p><p>At the Battle of Ushant in 1778 he commanded the 'Courageux', 74 guns, and played a distinguished part in action with the 'Ville de Paris', 110 guns. In the subsequent courts-martial sparked by the dispute between Admiral Keppel and his second-in-command, Hugh Palliser, he sided with Palliser. He remained in the 'Courageux' until the end of the war in 1783, after which he stayed ashore. 
</p><p>He had been MP for Lincoln from 1768 and in 1777, when he was also appointed to the Admiralty Board, he became MP for Huntingdon and later Paymaster-General to the Forces. His library on nautical subjects was described as the 'most perfect in England'.<br></p>
Captain Constantine John Phipps, 1744-92
<bdi><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Ozias_Humphry" class="extiw" title="w:en:Ozias Humphry"><span title="British artist (1742-1810)">Ozias Humphry</span></a>
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