Are they related? Chambers' Cyclopaedia (1728) and Biesty's Cross-sections: Man-of-war (1993)
Well, the title to this post says it all. Click on the pictures for much larger pop-up images.
Note that the Cyclopaedia was an early example of a genre that was to include the Encyclopédie of Diderot et al, and was probably its direct precursor. There is technical drawing here, various types of captioning and a generally diagrammatic approach to layout. Stephen Biesty's work is not only analogous, but seems likely to be a direct descendant.