No. 44 of 74 (PAJ1976 - PAJ2049)

Dated and signed 'March 75 AVpGB' (to the life by Gabriel Bray), this drawing presumably shows a young seaman of the 'Pallas' doing his 'party trick'. Bray gave it no title and whether the man is oriental, as suggested by the Museum's initial titling, is perhaps open to question.

This is one of 73 drawings by Bray (plus one signed 'NF 1782') preserved in a 19th-century album. They have now been separately remounted. Bray (1750-1823), was second lieutenant of the 44-gun ‘Pallas’ under Captain the Hon. William Cornwallis (1744-1819) – later a well-known admiral - on two voyages (1774-77) to report on British interests in West Africa, including the slave trade. The dated drawings refer only to the first of these, from December 1774 to September 1775, though a few may be from the second. Others comprise country views, some of Deal, Kent (where Bray may have come from), and others of social-history interest.