A sepia ink and watercolour sketch of the HMS Galatea in a cyclone, showing the ship knocked over onto its side by an enormous swell. Signed "O W Brierly". Verso: a slight pencil sketch of the same ship in storm with what appear to be notes relating to the mounting of the work; readable words include " ... just trim this a very little / all round / [...] and mount".

In 1867 Brierly was invited to join what was intended to be a world voyage on the Galatea made by Prince Alfred, the second son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and Captain of the ship from 1866, with the specific intention of visiting the Australian colonies. An attempted assassination on the Prince's life cut the voyage short. Brierly had previously worked for the Prince making drawings of earlier ships on which he had served (see, for example, RCIN 925410), and also for Queen Victoria, who first commissioned him to record the Naval Review of 1856 (see RCINs 920312 and 920311). On 13 June 1867 Prince Alfred wrote to his mother to inform her that "Brierly [would] send a little sketch occasionally of the same size as those you have already received." Brierly's work during this voyage was later to be exhibited at the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A), and the Prince personally supervised the arrangements for the show, which opened in January of 1872. This watercolour was exhibit number 832.

This work is a reduced version of RCIN 925414, which is signed and dated 1867 by the artist. The two works depict the HMS Galatea when it became caught up in a cyclone off the Island of St Paul's in the Southern Indian Ocean in October 1867. The positioning of the moon is different in the two works; whilst in this sketch it appears in the upper left, in the larger work it is seen upper right.