the painter was present at all the operations of the allied fleets in the Baltic Sea, and sent home sketches for publication in the Illustrated London News. On the return of the fleet, Brierly had a series of fifteen large lithographs executed from his drawings, which were published on 2 April 1855, with the title The English and French Fleets in the Baltic, 1854. In the second year of the war, he accompanied Keppel to the Black Sea; witnessed all the chief events of the war in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov, and visited Circassia and Mingrelia with the Duke of Newcastle on . After his return, he was commanded by Queen Victoria to take sketches from the royal yacht of the great naval review which was held at Spithead at the end of the war. This was the commencement of a third period in the artist's career, during which he received the constant patronage of the royal family. In 1863, he accompanied Count Gleichen in , on which the future Duke of Edinburgh was lieutenant, to Norway, and when the duke was appointed to the command of , Brierly was attached to his suite and accompanied him on a cruise in the Mediterranean Sea and afterwards round the world, which lasted from 26 February 1867 to 26 June 1868. The sketches made by Brierly during the voyage were exhibited at South Kensington in 1868, and he contributed the illustrations to the record of the voyage by the Rev. John Milner, published in 1869. In 1868, Brierly was attached to the suite of the Prince of Wales during the tour to the Nile, Constantinople, and the Crimea. He contributed five drawings to the Royal Academy exhibitions of 1859–61; he exhibited again in 1870–71, but ceased to exhibit at the Academy on becoming an associate of the Royal Water-colour Society in 1872. During the remainder of his life he contributed about two hundred water-colours to the society's exhibitions. These were, in part, founded on his early working life and travel experiences. His visits to Venice in 1874 and 1882 also supplied him materials for many of his most elaborate pictures; but the most characteristic subjects of his later period were historical. The first of these was 'The Retreat of the Spanish Armada' (Royal Academy, 1871). This was followed by 'Drake taking the Capitana to Torbay' (Royal Water-colour Society, 1872),