This print, which has been signed by the artist, depicts the third-rate ship of the line 'Implacable' at sea. HMS 'Victory' is in the background to the right, and more sails are visible on the horizen to the left. Sailors are at the top of 'Implacable's' fore- and mainmasts reefing the topgallant sails, and she flies a captain's pennant from the mainmast. A boat has been launched, as indicated by the port side's extended booms and dangling ropes, and appears to be returning to the ship. 'Implacable' was built as the French 'Duguay-Trouin' at Rochefort in 1800. It fought at and escaped from the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 but was captured in the Bay of Biscay with two others by Sir Richard Strachan some three weeks later (3 November). After long Royal Naval service under its new name it lasted well into the 20th century as a boys' training ship and in other uses at Portsmouth and this print was made, as its dedication to the Chairman of the Implacable Committee shows, as part of 1930s efforts to save and preserve it alongside HMS 'Victory' there as the only surviving 74-gun ship. Some progress was made on essential repairs but the Second World War intervened, during which the ship was used for storage and decayed beyond what was considered retrievable condition after 1945. It was offered back to the French as a gift, but they were in no better situation to accept it. In the end the Medusa figurehead (probably not the French original) and the carved work of the stern were removed and taken into store at the National Maritime Museum at the expense of its benefactor, Sir James Caird, who had also given substantial funds for the pre-war repair work. On 2 December 1949, heavily ballasted, the hull -flying joint British and French colours- was towed out to the Owers Deep in the Channel and scuttled with explosive charges. The figurehead was restored and displayed (originally outside) at Greenwich from the late 1970s and the stern finally reconstructed at full scale, using the original carved work, on the end wall of the NMM's Neptune Court redevelopment (1999) with the figurehead alongside.