This is a ship portrait, depicted from just below the starboard beam. The ship’s upper deck ports are not wreathed. Of its quarter-deck ports, only the foremost two (on the left) are wreathed, while the remaining ports are square. Above the quarter-gallery, on the far left of the drawing, is the large and majestic figure of Fame, depicted as an angel holding a trumpet.

This work is rubbed on the back and is probably an offset which has been completely worked up with rather laboured pencil and wash. It has been dated based on the assumption that it represents one of the ships known as ‘town class’ ships, built between 1690 and 1695. The usual establishment of guns for this type of ship was 22 on the gundeck, 22 on the upper deck and eight on the quarterdeck. However, some of the features on the ship – such as the square-decorated ports – suggest a much older ship which has perhaps been rebuilt. The drawing has been tentatively dated to 1690 although any date from 1680 is a possibility.