Brierly travelled extensively with the navy - on surveying voyages in the 1840s, to the Black Sea during the Crimean War in 1854. He accompanied Queen Victoria's son, the Duke of Edinburgh, a naval officer, to Norway and the Mediterranean, and around the world in 1867-68. In 1868 he was with the Prince of Wales in Egypt, Turkey and the Crimea. He became Marine Painter to the Queen in 1874.

This rapid sketch of fishing boats on a blustery day was painted in 1834 and has a typically atmospheric quality.