During the return trip of the expedition, d'Aboville was placed in command of the 36-pounder battery of the ship of the line Bucentaure, which was involved in the battle engaged by the French squadron with that of British Admiral Robert Calder.
Rear-Admiral Sir Robert Calder, who commanded the naval squadron based in Castletownbere Port wrote to the Rt. Hon. William Wickham on 22 December 1803 to request protection for his victualers and store ships, which were to be based at the Berehaven anchorage to supply his squadron.
On its return the Franco-Spanish fleet was intercepted by a fleet under Sir Robert Calder at the Battle of Cape Finisterre, losing the Spanish ships Firme and San Rafael.
Robert Louis Stevenson | Robert De Niro | Robert E. Lee | Robert Mugabe | Robert Redford | Robert Burns | Robert Bosch GmbH | Robert | Robert A. Heinlein | Robert Schumann | Robert Browning | Robert Rauschenberg | Alexander Calder | Robert Plant | Robert Altman | Robert Mitchum | Robert Frost | Robert Southey | Robert F. Kennedy | Robert Maxwell | Robert Graves | Robert E. Howard | Robert Fripp | Robert Fisk | Robert Rodriguez | Robert Motherwell | Robert Lowell | Robert Johnson | Robert Duvall | Robert Boyle |
Abbott painted portraits of many figures of the day including leading seamen such as Admiral Nelson, Admiral Sir Robert Calder, Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Pasley and Captain William Locker, astronomer Sir William Herschel, poet William Cowper, artists Francesco Bartolozzi and Joseph Nollekens, entrepreneur Matthew Boulton and industrialist John Wilkinson amongst others.