2-693-750 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'The Royal George', (1931). HMS Royal George, launched in1756, was a 100-gun ship of the line of the Royal Navy. The largest warship in the world at the time, she saw service during the Seven Years' War and was the flagship at the Battle of Quiberon Bay. She sank while undergoing routine maintenance at Portsmouth in August 1782. She was heavily overloaded, with an estimated 200-300 relatives visiting the officers and men. She took on water as the cargo shifted, resulting in the loss of more than 800 lives. Illustration from A History of Everyday Things in England - Done in two parts of which this is the second - 1500-1799, by Marjorie and C. D. B. Quennell. [B. T. Batsford, London, 1931]