A representation of the riotous conduct of the 18th- and early 19th-century British 'Jack Tar' ashore. Here several have taken joy-riding control of what is probably a public hire-carriage (from the number '49' below the door window) and are racing away in it, past a respectable observer on the side of the road, perhaps a clergyman from his dress. Given seamen's capacity to spend cash extravagantly they are just as likely to have hired the carriage rather than hi-jacked it: no-one shown is an obviously protesting 'fare' who has been evicted or in effect kidnapped. The domed building at left is not specifically identifiable but may allude to St Paul's Cathedral or at least the sort of grand architecture and urban civility that their anti-social behaviour is subverting.

While most of the 'tars' wear loose trousers and either red neckerchiefs or waistcoats, the man with the reins on top wears shipboard 'slop' breeches, which gave much freer movement in going aloft to handle sails. He has tied his tarpaulin hat to the end of the coach driver's whip and has the paired horses at the gallop by 'spooking' them with it. Two of the men carry cudgels, also a common sight for seamen ashore with pay or prize-money in the purses. While primarily to defend themselves from footpads and other 'land-sharks', their readiness to use them also enabled the sort of activity shown, often under the influence of drink.