This wash drawing depicts the merchant ship Pelican under full sail in a following wind, from a port stern quarter view, passing Gravesend on 1st August 1809. She is flying the British ensign at her stern and towing a small cutter. Pelican is more boldly depicted than the several other sailing vessels and the shore scene in the background. Gravesend is shown, on the right of the image, as a cluster of buildings around a tall spire. A windmill can be seen on the top of a small hill above the town.

Catalogue image PAD0524, probably by the same unknown artist, depicts the Pelican being taken by the Franklin of Genoa in October 1809.

Pelican is not recorded in Lloyd's Register, but a vessel of that name is entered in Lloyd's List as leaving Gravesend on 1st August 1809; however the master is stated as Murphy rather than Marley. No record of the capture of Pelican by the Franklin (as depicted in PAD0524) has so far been found.