Battleships steaming in two columns towards the artist's viewpoint, led by the 'King Edward VII'class 'Britannia' of 1904 on the right. The ships are all of the type colloquially known as pre-dreadnoughts and the date is 1906-07, since 'Britannia' was the only one to carry a white funnel band mid-way on each funnel and she only wore these bands in those years. Wyllie has apparently used a very large number of pins to hold the paper down, suggesting the sketch may have been made at sea.