Signed by artist. One of the eight ships of the 'Astraea'-class of protected cruisers (4390 tons) built for the Royal Navy during the 1890s. They served on a number of foreign stations during their careers, particularly in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and around the Cape of Good Hope. Obsolete by the outbreak of the First World War, they continued in use in secondary roles throughout, mainly as training or depot ships and were scrapped soon afterwards except 'Hermione' which remained a Marine Society training ship until 1940. 'Charybdis' spent most of her career in British waters, with occasional voyages to the Indian Ocean and Far East commands. She became part of the 12th Cruiser Squadron on the outbreak of war, but was damaged in a collision in 1915 and was laid up at Bermuda: this drawing in fact shows her with the high topmasts she carried only between 1908 and 1914. Used for harbour service from 1917 she was converted to a merchant vessel and loaned to a shipping firm in 1918, then returned to the Navy in 1920, sold in 1922 and broken up in 1923.

Nothing is known of the artist, W. J. Sutton, except that he painted British warships in watercolour, the ships shown dating from the mid-1890s to at least the early 1920s. His style is perhaps best described as that of a competent amateur, though it was probably for sale, and examples by him sometimes appear at auction. Given his subject he may have been based at one of the naval ports, such as Portsmouth or Plymouth, and mainly selling to naval personnel. If so, that may explain the dates on the original titled mount of this example as being those between which his client served in the ship shown. This drawing is signed, lower right. [PvdM 4/12]