A smuggling cutter

Pen-and-ink sketch of a cutter, described in the inscription beneath the image as ‘a Smuggling Cutter’, with blue and grey wash on the sails and hull and in the sea and sky. A figure in the rigging of the cutter points to starboard.

The sketch is part of an album containing fifty-seven drawings (PAH4886–PAH4943) created by British naval officer Aiskew Paffard Hollis (1764–1844) during the late 1780s and the 1790s. The majority relate to his service as a lieutenant in ‘Pegase’ in 1785–90, in ‘Andromeda’ in 1790–93 and in ‘Queen’ in 1793–96. Included are portraits of Hollis’s shipmates, often with humorous captions, as well as scenes of everyday life ashore and afloat.

Object Details

ID: PAH4889
Type: Drawing
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Hollis, Aiskew Paffard
Date made: 1785–98
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
Measurements: Sheet: 138 x 103 mm
Parts: Album of drawings (Album)