Male Dolphin / The appearance of the Land about Saldana Bay

One side of this sheet features a watercolour of a mahi-mahi or common dolphinfish (Coryphaena hippurus). It has a green and yellow body and blue fins. An inscription beneath the image reads ‘Male Dolphin’, ‘dolphin’ being a traditional name for mahi-mahi. The other side of the sheet features three coastal profiles with navigational notes. A heading reads ‘The appearance of the Land about Saldana Bay’, referring to Saldanha Bay in South Africa. These drawings are the work of naval officer Aiskew Paffard Hollis (1764–1844). They were probably made between 1796 and 1798, when Hollis was serving at the Cape of Good Hope, initially in the ‘Chichester’ and later in the ‘Tremendous’. For other examples of his work, see PAH4885 and ZBB0352–84.