A dramatic sketch from the 'Birkdale', showing the effects of cloud hovering over the Gulf of Mexico. The artist has used form and colour to create a dramatic effect. The clouds hover against a flat blue sky and are shown as a mass of colour. Using short curved brush strokes, Everett has used tones of dark blue and grey underneath and pink, orange and red above. The more vivid colours indicate the reflections from the sun. These tones are reflected on the surface of the flat calm sea shown as a series of horizontal lines of varying length. Everett joined the barque, 'Birkdale', and sailed from Bristol to Sabine Pass, Texas, April to June 1920. It was his first journey after World War I. The 'Birkdale' was due to take sulphur from Texas to the Cape, but when she arrived in Texas the ship was re-chartered to Australia and so Everett reluctantly left her and came home by steamer. The 'Birkdale', built in 1892, was the last barque to fly the red ensign and spent nearly all her working life in the Chilean nitrate trade. For a short time after World War I she switched to taking sulphur from Texas to the Cape. The 'Birkdale' went back to the nitrate trade and was wrecked on the Chilean coast after catching fire in 1927. The painting is inscribed 'Gulf No 2', 'Birk'.