Painting, Launch at Deptford Dockyard by John Cleveley the Elder, c. 1750. Oil on canvas; 106 x 180 cm in gilt frame 119 x 193 x 12 cm. One of several launching scenes executed 1747-c. 1755. Although unsigned and undated, this work is closely related to Cleveley's depiction of the launching of St. Albans, dated 1748, now in the National Maritime Museum London. The 74-gun warship about to be floated is almost identical and probably from the same Naval Establishment specifications. The smaller 40-gun ship still in the stocks is possibly the Rochester, launched 1749. Of the two men-of-war at anchor, that with the lower deck portholes is a sixth rate 20-gun, 1741. Smaller craft witnessing the launch include longboat, Admiralty yacht and Thames wherries.