This appears to be part of a slightly more panoramic drawing, on two joined sheets of which about a quarter of the whole is missing from the right end, cutting off the name of 'Captain Wa[tson]' of the 51-gun screw-assisted 'Imperieuse'. The names of the ships are inscribed on it at the bottom, as is 'Cronstadt', the Russian Baltic naval base, part of whose dockyard can just be seen on the horizon. The ships on the right ('Centaur' and 'Bulldog', 6-guns, both being paddle steamers) are apparently in action closer in than the larger 'James Watt' can reach and the latter's men are crowding up her rigging to watch. The focus of the action is missing with the lost section but it is apparently a minor long-range Crimean War engagement with Russian batteries and gun-boats that took place near the Tolboukin lighthouse (centre) on 16 August 1855.

Mends, by then a commander in rank, witnessed it while second-in-command of the 'James Watt' from January 1854 until early 1856. While the Navy frequently reuses ship names there was only one 'James Watt', originally planned as the 'Audacious' but renamed in 1847 before laying down at Pembroke Dock. A screw-auxiliary 2nd rate of 80-guns and 3083 tons, it was launched in 1853, saw immediate Baltic service, as shown here, and was eventually sold for breaking to Castle's of Charlton, on the Thames, in 1875.