(Updated January 2021) This 'Sylph' was designed by Sir Robert Seppings, the surveyor of the Royal Navy and built at Calcutta in 1831 for the Parsee merchant Rustomjee Cowasjee who wanted a ship that could cope with monsoons. She had a complement of 304 men and was one of the fastest early opium clippers. This was very popular with Jardine Matheson who either owned or rented the ship from Cowasjee. The vessel carried opium to London in 1832. While sailing from Calcutta to China in 1835 with a full cargo of 995 chests of opium she was stranded on a shoal in the Malay Peninsula. The hull was damaged and the opium soaked but the ship and all but two of the chests were saved through the fortunate appearance of the East India Company’s sloop 'Clive'.

The painting shows the 'Clive' in the centre, riding at anchor off what is shown as a hazardous lee shore, with the 'Sylph' aground closer in to the right. The two-masted lugger at far right is presumably a ship's boat communicating between the two vessels, in this case beating out against the wind from 'Sylph' before changing tack to reach the 'Clive'. Refloated and later rebuilt in Singapore, the 'Sylph' was chased by Chinese junks in 1841 and came close to being captured. It is thought that she was eventually seized and burnt by pirates who operated from the island of Hainan. The painting shows the Malay coast in the distance as deeply forested with palm trees. It appears to have been done for John Croft Hawkins, who spent a considerable period commanding the 'Clive' in the late 1820s and 1840s, but - though likely - it remains for confirmation whether doing so in this incident. The Museum has both a miniature and a later portrait of him (MNT0003 and BHC2756).