This print is from the first of a pair of pictures of this action that were Yates's last two exhibits at the Royal Academy in 1794, and which were sent in from Greenwood's as submission address: Graves's RA list points out in a note that they were the dealers who disposed of the contents of Sir Joshua Reynolds's studio after his death. PAH7850 and 7851 are copies of the other half of the pair. [PvdM 8/12].
The Cleopatra (or Cleopatre) is shown starboard quarter view. The ship was renamed Oiseau after capture, as there was already an HMS Cleopatra. Her original launch date was 1781, and her capture took place during the Action of 18 June 1793, the first decisive and one of the most celebrated encounters between British and French frigates during the French Revolutionary Wars.