The HMS 'Victory' was the flagship of Admiral Sir John Balchen, and she was the last British First Rate to be armed entirely with bronze cannons. She was wrecked by a violent storm near the Race of Alderney in 1744. The entire crew including the admiral perished. The hand-colored engraving depicts a dark and cloudy scene with a partly sunken ship (stern side up) in the foreground. Cannons fire to signal distress to the nearby ships barely visible in the darkness at the left. A circular opening in the clouds spotlights the 'Victory.' The text in the bottom margin is in English and French.
