A portrait of Greenwich Pensioner Thomas Scott, seated, with his right peg-leg stuck out in front of him. His lace suggests he may be the ward boatswain and his signature and 'Wager Ward' are reproduced in facsimile below the plate.

This the frontispiece to the pamphlet, 'Narrative of The Destruction of His Majesty's Ship 'Resistance', and of the Miraculous Escape of Thomas Scott, and three others', edited by Joseph Allen and published by the Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners Society (London, 1843). Allen (1810-63) would have known Scott well, since while he was also a naval writer his job from 1833 to his death was that of Military Superintendent of Dining Halls and Kitchens at Greenwich Hospital.
The Wager Ward is first recorded under this name in 1793. It held 16 men and was situated on the ground floor of the west range in the Queen Anne Court of the Hospital.