A fine sepia engraving detailing Sir Thomas Slade's (1703 - 1771 ) generic design for the 74 gun ship of 1752. 

Published 1810 by Logman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & brown.

Size: 80cm x 26.5cm.

In the mid-1750s the Admiralty began to order, two-decked, 74 gunners, designed  Sir Thomas Slade (appointed  Surveyor of the Navy in 1755). Slade was undoubtedly the greatest naval architect of the 18th century. In additon to designing Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory, his 74s were critical to British Naval supremacy. By the 1790s entire squadrons were made up of 74-gun ships