A Royal Naval squadron of the Red offshore in a heavy swell

This picture, a late work by Brooking, may be compared to Merchant ships passing in the Channel (private collection; SEE D. Joel, Charles Brooking 1723-1759 and the 18th Century British Marine Painters, Suffolk, 2000, p. 63, no. 241B). In both pictures, the distinctive and extensive use of white crests is apparent in the handling of the sea and the principle two-decker is depicted almost identically. Unusually, in this picture, only two (rather than three) lanterns are depicted on the stern of the two-decker. The rigging on the mizzen masts of the two principal ships would suggest that this picture dates to after 1750.