An 18th-century Royal Naval brigantine, flying the red ensign, a Union jack at the bow and the pendant of a ship on independent command. It is off the coast, which can be seen on the far left. The ship is a two-masted, square-rigged 10-gun sloop of war in port-broadside view, with a figurehead at the bow. The mainmast carries a lateen driver, furled to the lowered lateen yard. To the left, three officials are being rowed out to the ship, where men on deck prepare to meet them. Two other vessels in full sail can be seen in the distance to the left. The painting has been signed and dated 1752.

Cleveley was a professional shipwright, who worked in Deptford Dockyard, as well as a painter. He was an early exhibitor at the Free Society of Artists in London and two of his three sons, John Cleveley the Younger and his twin brother Robert Cleveley, also became painters.