Etching of the sinking of the 'St Albans'. The ship is depicted in the centre of the etching, from the sartboard bow, the aft having sunk below the water. The masts are broken off below and one of them is floating in the foreground. In the right foreground is a boat with some survivors. The 'St Albans' was a 50-gun fourth rate, launched at Deptford in 1687, which fought at the Battle of Bantry Bay in 1689 and was present at the (onshore) Battle of Placentia, Newfoundland, in 1692. She was wrecked at Kinsale Harbour in 1693, which is the scene depicted in this etching. Smoke can be seen emanating from the sinking ship and frames bow of the sinking ship, concentrating the viewer's eye on the action taking place on deck, as men clamber to escape, and cling to floating debris. The artist Robert Spence (1871-1963) was a renowned artists and model maker, and as such, has captured the hull-shape and arrangement of the vessel accurately. There are wreathed gunports on the upper deck and a lion figurehead at the bow. However, the addition of a bobstay to the stem of the St Albans is likely to be erroneous. The earliest depiction of a bobstay, thought to be a French invention, can be found on a French model of the 'Royal Louis' (1692). The bobstay was introduced into England in around 1700, and can be found on a model of the 'St George' dated to 1701. In the background to the left, two more fully rigged ships of the period are depicted.
Spence was undoubtedly familiar with the work of the van der Veldes, and to some extent this etching echoes the type of scene the two Dutch artists depicted, although by no means does it achieve the same quality.