Two 90 Gun Ships of the Line entering Cork Harbour by George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson at Morgan O’Driscoll’s sale on November 24 should arouse much interest. It adorned the cover of Peter Murray’s book Maritime Paintings of Cork written to coincide with a popular exhibition of the same name at the Port of Cork hq in 2005 and is one of Atkinson’s more ambitious works. With three masts, steam engines and single funnels these are an early manifestation of steam driven warships. As they enter the harbour following another steamship a frigate with sails unfurled is leaving. It is flying the Blue Peter, known as the departure flag. A cutter in the foreground is possibly the Cork pilot boat.
UPDATE: THIS MADE 25,000 AT HAMMER