The ‘Nelson’ is shown in starboard broadside view with launching flags at Woolwich dockyard. Spectators are lined all along the lower edge and crowds on either side of the image. A large group of rowing boats can be seen in the river on the left. An embellished border separates the principal image from the inscription, supported by two mermaids on either side in the same manner as caryatids.

The keel of the 'Nelson' was laid in 1805, but it was not until nine years later that she was launched at Woolwich in July 1814. The launching was a gala affair with the Royal family in attendance, and over 20,000 spectators. The 'Nelson' was described as being 'superb and stupendous, of immense magnitude and exciting admiration, with a figurehead of our brave and ever lamented hero Nelson, supported by the flame and Britannia, with the motto England expects every man to do his duty’.