John Poad Drake Patent for the improvements in building ships, steam-vessels and boats and also in the building of canal and river barges and lighters dated 19 January 1838 signed at Middlesex. This is three large pages of vellum with wake seal.

Administrative / biographical background
John Poad Drake (1794–1883) a descendant of Sir Francis Drake, he was an inventor and artist from Stoke Damerel, in present-day Devon. He studied as a student of the Royal Academy in London. He worked at the Plymouth Dockyard. He later painted in Halifax, Nova Scotia (1815), Montreal and New York. Later returning to England and patented a new system for drilling screws at the shipyard.