Shows the 'Birkenhead''s wreck in 1852. Inscribed in red on the picture area: "Loss of the Birkenhead on 26th Feby 18-". The artist was at the time a 19-year-old Cornet in the 12th Royal Lancers and survived the wreck.

This picture is known to have been exhibited in both the Royal Military and Royal Naval Exhibitions put on at Chelsea Hospital throughout the summers and autumns of 1890 and 1891 respectively. It is included in the catalogue for the latter as no.1569 (on p.190), lent by Captain Bond Shelton.

It is claimed in A. C. Addison and W. H. Matthews, 'A Deathless Story, or, the "Birkenhead" and its Heroes' (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1906) that this picture, during its time on display at Chelsea, inspired the better-known oil by Thomas Hemy (c.1892, whereabouts unknown; used as the frontispiece for said book), and may also have suggested a “beautiful work by Mr. Charles Dixon”.

The NMM collection also includes a coloured lithograph derived from this drawing. See PAH0931, which contains a lengthier description of the incident.

Heightened with white.