View of Sheerness, circa 1750 RMG BHC1931

View of Sheerness, circa 1750
(Updated, January 2016) A scene showing shipping in a storm and heavy sea off Sheerness Dockyard at the mouth of the River Medway. The painting focuses on the problems that vessels might encounter in such conditions. The sails of the naval frigate on the left are flapping as they have been loosened for gathering in as it runs into the river to anchor. A small boat in front of it has lost its mast and the sail has fallen into the water. In the central foreground another boat has lost its mast and sails and is sinking. A rescue is under way. Several figures have jumped overboard and others have thrown a line to the large cutter in the foreground on the right which is itself rather dramatically lowering its sails. All this action amid the foaming seas takes place against a backdrop of static calm through the backdrop of the buildings behind and ships at anchor in the lee of the land, which include the dokyard sheer-hulk at centre right. Ashore in the yard a first- or second-rate three-decker warship is in dry dock, either with its construction being completed or under repair. The building at far left is the late-17th-century fort on what is now Garrison Point, built when the dockyard was fortified to the designs of Bernard de Gomme following the Dutch raid on the Medway in 1667.

View of Sheerness, ca.1750