This drawing shows a ship viewed from the starboard quarter. The ship is probably one of the 54-gun vessels, the ‘Greenwich’, ‘St David’, ‘Yarmouth’ or ‘Newcastle’, which were rebuilt in circa 1680. In 1677, all of these ships were armed with 24 guns on the gundeck, 22 on the upper deck and 8 on the quarterdeck. The other 54-gun ships, the ‘Leopard’, ‘Oxford’ and the ‘Princess’ were gone before 1685.

This is a lightly-drawn work in thick, but accurate pencil. It has been evenly rubbed on the back. It is possible that an offset was taken from this work. The drawing has been approximately dated by its watermark.