Marine Etching Napoleonic Wars(?) British w/ Captured French Ships

Any thoughts on this print? I think the print itself dates to the late 19th or early 20th C, but the subject matter may be the Napoleonic Wars. I'm tentatively guessing Nelson at Aboukir Bay, 1798, where French ships were captured. The plate impression 12 ½” by 19 5/8”. It's pencil signed with a name I can't quite read (maybe Whithead?), and is numbered No.6, which might indicate this to be the 6th in a series of images. Any thoughts on subject, artist, or what else the number might mean?

 

I think you are right about the Napoleonic war, there are certainly three captured French fourth or fifth rate ships, of the correct general design but stylistically I don't think the print is any earlier than the mid 20th C.

The signature looks like Alf Wichards

 

Whishaw for the last name?

 

Thanks for looking. I'm not finding anything under any of these names, nor Wishard, Wishead, Wishart. There are some etchings related to Aboukir, but not this, and that's a guess anyhow.

 

I wonder if it might be Alf Whiihaus. I think that is a possible surname.

 

Thanks for looking. Not finding anything under that either. It's not a bad etching. Not great, but not bad. You'd think there would be something online.

 

Probably A.Y. (Alexander) Whishaw.

 

Possibly. Possibly. That could very well be A Y rather than Alf. At least there is reference to him as a watercolorist and etcher (1 watercolor, 1 etching), but I'm not finding any photos of his work. Somewhere in there was a reference to 1914, but no biographical info or dates for the artist. Best hope so far. Thanks.

 

could be-here's a sig by the artist u mention-quite different-I have no idea how artist's sigs change over time

 

Good find. That might be the difference between printed with a brush and written with a pencil.

That's a watercolor painting of sailboats on water. There is some similarity in the approach to rendering the sky, but that might just be a question of convention. The treatment of the water is pretty different, but that might be due to differences in media. Hard to tell.