Sketch of three-funnelled warship firing shots across the bow of a barque under full sail RMG PV2910, William Lionel Wyllie, probably 1914-18

Sketch of three-funnelled warship firing shots across the bow of a barque under full sail the previous received title suggested the sailing vessel shown as the 'discovery', which it certainly is not, but a three-masted barque without auxiliary steam power and not heavily laden. The fact a warship appears to be trying to bring it to by warning shots across the bows suggests this is a first world war subject. There are no british warships that convincingly match that shown. On the german side the 3800-ton light cruisers 'danzig' and 'leipzig' (both 1905) would be a fairly good match but only the latter is recorded as being involved in any such incident. On 2 december 1914, while part of the german east asian/ pacific squadron under von spee, she captured the canadian flagged 'drummuir' (1882) off cape horn. However, the 'drummuir' was a four-masted barque and heavily laden with 2750 tons of coal, which was transferred to colliers before she was scuttled, so is not the ship shown here. It may therefore be an 'artist's impression' of such an event, rather than representing a real one, and perhaps done early in the war before german warships which were at sea when it broke out and began such commerce raiding (notably the 'emden' and the 'königsberg' in the indian ocean) had been eliminated. Date: probably 1914-18. Dimensions: 467 mm x 327 mm. Collection: Fine art.