Fighting vessels and naval picket boats in choppy water, 1910-13 RMG PU9921, William Lionel Wyllie

Fighting vessels and naval picket boats in choppy water, 1910-13 this fluid monochrome sketch shows four royal naval warships, two being 'four-stackers', in an anchorage, with steam picket-boats and other launches busily ferrying men between them and (presumably) the shore. The large vessel in the top right is an armoured cruiser - either 'cochrane', 'warrior', 'defence', 'minotaur' or 'shannon'. The large ships are displaying rigs appropriate to the 1910-13 period, not wartime. The location is hard to determine, but the levels of actvity suggest possibly spithead. This fluid monochrome sketch shows four royal naval warships, two being 'four-stackers', in an anchorage, with steam picket-boats and other launches busily ferrying men between them and (presumably) the shore. The large vessel in the top right is an armoured cruiser - either 'cochrane', 'warrior', 'defence', 'minotaur' or 'shannon'. The large ships are displaying rigs appropriate to the 1910-13 period, not wartime. The location is hard to determine, but the levels of activity suggest possibly spithead. This is the type of drawing (and vessels shown) which wyllie used for his large canvas entitled 'liberty men landing from spithead' (1908), now in the royal naval museum, portsmouth, but in this cae probably a little later. Date: 1910. Dimensions: 253 mm x 353 mm. Collection: Fine art.