R. Paton pinxt. 1778. C Canot aqua fortis. W. Watts sculp.
London Published 1 March 1803 by B. B. Evans in the Poultry.
Etching and engraving, scratched letter proof before title, 510 x 690mm. 20 x 27¼". Laid on card; two vertical creases through centre.
Sheerness, beside the mouth of the River Medway on the northwest corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent. Sheerness began as a fort built in the 16th century to protect the River Medway from naval invasion. In 1665, plans were first laid by the Navy Board for a Royal Navy dockyard where warships might be provisioned and repaired, a site favored by Samuel Pepys, then Clerk of the Acts of the navy, for shipbuilding over Chatham. After the raid on the Medway in 1667, the older fortification was strengthened; in 1669 the Royal Navy dockyard was established, where warships were stocked and repaired until its closure in 1960. An impressive scene after Richard Paton (1717 - 1791), painter of marine subjects. With an etched crest below image.
[Ref: 9085]  £480.00