Portrait of the 'Stirling Castle', 1679 (graphite)

Creator: Willem van de Velde, the Elder A 70-gun third-rate built at Deptford and launched in 1679. It was rebuilt in 1699 and was one of three similar warships of Rear-Admiral Basil Beaumont's squadron lost on the Goodwin Sands in the Great Storm of 1703. (The NMM also holds items recovered from modern investigation of the wreck.) Carefully and accurately executed, probably from an offset, this drawing shows the ship from before the port beam immediately after her launching. The staff amidships, where the royal standard flew at the launching, is bare; but there is a jack on the stem, an Admiralty flag forward, a Union flag aft, and an ensign. On the broadside the ship carries thirteen guns on the gun deck, thirteen on the upper deck, two each on the forecastle and poop and five on the quarterdeck. It has wreathed ports and a crowned lion figurehead. Originally inscribed 'Jacobus te blackwall' (?), this is crossed out, with 'de Lense vande sterlings kastell' written beneath (The launch of the 'Stirling Castle'). In 1958 Robinson noted a starboard broadside view of the same ship in the collection of D.G. van Beuningen.