Hand-coloured etching and aquatint showing the 'Dreadnought', the hospital ship open to merchant seamen of all nations, run by the Seamens' (now Seafarers) Hospital Society (SHS) and moored off Greenwich. The Society was founded in 1821 - and this very specifically dated print may mark its tenth anniversary - initially being lent the 50-gun 'Grampus' (ex- 'Tiger') as its first floating base at Greenwich. 'Dreadnought' (built in 1801) replaced it from 1827 to 1856 and was then itself replaced by the 120-gun 'Caledonia' of 1808, which was renamed 'Dreadnought' for the purpose. That went out of service in 1870, just after Greenwich Hospital finally closed as a residential home for disabled naval seamen in 1869, leaving its large Infirmary seeking a new use. This allowed the SHS to occupy it instead, as a shore-based operation. It continued to do so until the establishment of the National Health Service after the Second World War and retained a focus on seamen's health until finally closed in 1986. Today, after two major conversions since the late 1990s, that is the Dreadnought Building of Greenwich University while the SHS - whose head office is still in King William Walk, Greenwich - has dedicated ward space provided within the Guy's and St Thomas's Hospital Trust. The The print is from William Collingwood Smith's large watercolour, PAJ2839. PAI7101 is another copy. [updated PvdM 1/21]