A scene of the steamship Hecate on a shore, possibly stuck. Men on small rowing boats are journeying to her in the right foreground. An indigenous figure in red observes the scene from the shore at left foreground, under the shade of trees.
Technique includes scratching out. Heightened with white. The corners have been cut.
Inscribed: 'HMS Hecate on shore near Bay Juan de Fuca Strait, N.W. America August 1861'. Bedwell was a master in the Hecate.