Turner seems to have visited the Victory almost as soon as she arrived off Sheerness with the body of Nelson, in December 1805. He made use of this small sketchbook and also of some larger, loose sheets of paper on which he made studies and notes of the ship from on board (Nos. 96, 97). The sketchbook contains several pencil studies of the flagship and other vessels, with notes of the uniforms of officers and men. This material was used for the picture of ‘The Battle of Trafalgar' shown at Turner's gallery in 1806 (No.84).