An English Fourth Rate Ship of the Line

The present unusually grand drawing shows a British two-deck Man of War, probably a 40 gun, Fourth Rate ship-of-the-line. The mass expansion of the British navy during the Commonwealth and early years of the Restoration, partly in response to protracted antagonism with Holland, resulted in the construction of a large number of new ships. In the present drawing van de Velde gives a very accurate depiction of the ship's structure and decoration, but despite the meticulous record of crucial details, such as the ship's crest, it has yet to be identified.
Watermark: Arms of Amsterdam. With fragments of the same watermark on attached sheets. Watermark, beta radiograph. Arms of Amsterdam. 459124wm1_BAT29_WM_beta.jpg
Watermark: Arms of Amsterdam fragment on right attached sheet. Watermark, beta radiograph. Arms of Amsterdam. 459124wm2_BAT29_WM_beta.jpg