A hand-colored lithograph depicting the paddle steamer HMS 'Black Eagle' off the Isle of Wight as she paddles to the left side of the print. Two streams of black smoke emit from the two smokestacks on her deck. The 'Black Eagle' was the first British naval vessel to be fitted with oscillating engines and tubular boilers. She was launched with a single 18-pounder gun during a time when dispatch vessels were only lightly or not at all armed.
