First Fleet artwork collection

Two drawings of ships of the First Fleet arranged side by side, with the flagship HMS Sirius on the right and the armed tender Supply on the left. Both drawings are framed by a black ink border, separated by a narrow vertical band of pink wash, and inscribed with a title below. The view on the left depicts the Supply in full sail and flying an English flag with a red, white and blue pennant as it passes Lord Howe Island, with the sea to the right of the ship marked with crescent-shaped bars of grey to indicate its movement through the water. The two main peaks of the Island, Mounts Lidgbird and Gower, are partially obscured by cloud on the left of the composition, and Ball's Pyramid is visible on the horizon to the right. The view on the right depicts the Sirius at anchor in Sydney Cove flying the naval blue ensign and the Union Jack of Queen Anne, with cannon muzzles visible along her side and a boat tethered behind. Two small sailing boats can be seen to the left, with an arm of Sydney Cove behind them with a white building on top, and the grey-green hills of the northern shores in the distance to the right. The sea in both drawings is represented by a grey-blue gradated wash, overlaid with short grey horizontal brush marks in the foreground. The skies are composed of blue washes which define the shapes of unpainted clouds. The drawings are framed with a thick black ink line and a triple-banded border, the central band of which is coloured with a pink wash and contains the titles. Most of the outer band appears to have been lost through the drawing having been cropped.