HMS Hastings, Seventy-FourLying in Ordinary in the Medway

Original hand-coloured etching

Drawn & etched by Edward William Cooke 

HMS Hastings, Seventy-Four

Lying in Ordinary in the Medway

Original hand-coloured etching

Drawn & etched by Edward William Cooke RA (1811–1880)

Published, London, December 1829

This attractive original marine print depicts HMS Hastings, a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line, laid up “in ordinary” on the River Medway after active naval service. During the early nineteenth century, ships placed “in ordinary” were kept in reserve, maintained with reduced crews until required again.

Edward William Cooke was one of Britain’s foremost marine artists and was later elected a Royal Academician. Unlike many Victorian prints engraved by others, this example was drawn and etched by Cooke himself, making it a particularly desirable example of his early work.

24 cm x 18 cm image size 

A beautifully observed study of one of the Royal Navy’s great wooden warships during the final years of the Age of Sail.

Date: Published 1829

Medium: Original hand-coloured etching on paper

Artist: Edward William Cooke RA (1811–1880)