Nelson at the Nile; The Royal Dock yard, or The Walnut-shell Squadron
A satire on the extravagant court of the Prince Regent and the cabinet of Lord Liverpool.
The motif for the cartoon is the mock naval battle which had been staged on 1 August 1814 on the Serpentine in Hyde Park to commemorate Nelson’s great victory at the Battle of the Nile. Like a group of children making toy boats, the Prince Regent and his cabinet ministers make their ships from a basket of walnut shells and test their sea-worthiness in a large tub of water.
The identity of each of the politicians depicted as ship-modellers is inscribed on the stern of his boat. The insane George III looks in on the model-making scene from another room and proclaims, “Out upon you is this the way you attend to my concerns while I am Ill! Please the Lord to bring me about or I’ll ship you all off to New South Wales in your own walnut shells”.
The cartoon summarises the mood of the times by portraying an out-of-touch government and Prince Regent whimsically making paper sails out of petitions sent by an outraged public, whilst throughout Britain great social, economic and political upheavals were resulting in massive levels of transportation to the Australian colonies.