Painted by an unknown artist in 1633, Captaine Bushell was a naval officer and something of a dashing rogue who captured the royalist pinnace Henrietta Maria in a night raid without a shot being fired in 1642. Later in 1643 he used his knowledge of artillery in the successful defence of Scarborough Castle, but changed sides the same year. He led several daring raids on parliament shipping after that and eventualy fell foul of his opponents, being executed in 1651, on the same block and using the very axe that was used for the King.
Here he is, well before those exploits at the time he married the girl he met in the Low Countries, bareheaded in a black doublet with red lining, cuffs and matching laced falling band with a black waist scarf and and embroidered baldric holding up his splendid mortuary sword. The picture hangs in Whitby Museum.
The 1640s Picturebook 
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