A preparatory sketch showing a sail of the 'Birkdale, on the far right. The main part of the sketch is taken up with thin layered paint in lilac and purple to represent the sea and pink and blue to represent the sky. Everett has made several lines of notation relating to the use of colours in the final painting across the bottom of the image. 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 of Good Hope, 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 'Birkdale' on the sail, bottom right.