Spread across this and the facing page on folio 33 recto (
D17417), Turner describes details of the architecture and rigging of a vessel as identified by Finberg.
1 The drawings are united by groups of vertical lines, which in almost every case denote a section of rigging.
The dominant sketch on the sheet is a loosely composed view of a ship of the line, discernible by its stern to the left of centre. Like all of the drawings on this sheet, Turner places his emphasis on vertical, rather than horizontal, lines. He omits the latter entirely in his rendering of the grid of windows across the gallery. The overall angle is somewhat diagonal, allowing for a description of the hull as it extends towards the right. A row of briefly marked gun ports lines the largely unelaborated timber, and the spanker boom juts out from the stern at a right angle at left.
At the top of the sheet, a brief, delicate sketch in the left corner describes a length of cordage stretching between two masts, fixed immediately below tops, or platforms. At right, Turner records three ropes wound between and fixed to pairs of deadeyes, possibly along the chains ledge. At the left edge of the page, a drawing shows more closely the point at which two portions of a mast meet above a top, connected together by a cap. At the foot of the page, another briefly rendered sketch is largely illegible, distinguished predominantly by a sharp point at one end.
At far right, a small portion of the ledge surrounding the ship’s deck is described. This drawing crosses the gutter and continues on the facing page, folio 33 recto (
D17417). It shows the bow and bowsprit of a ship.
Maud Whatley
January 2016
