A coloured lithograph of Jamestown and a stormy ocean. The picture has the inscription: ‘Taken from the Harbour Master’s Office during the rollers of the 17th February 1846, on which day thirteen vessels (mostly captured slavers) were destroyed by the extraordinary phenomenon, and public as well as private property to the amount of £10,000 destroyed. It was also remarkable that the agitation of the water was confined to about 500 yards from the shore, beyond which distance the sea was perfectly calm, there being at the time scarcely any wind’.

A key names a number of vessels including the slave ships 'Descobrador', 'St Domingos', 'Aquilla', 'Eufrazia', 'Esperanza' and the 'Quatre-de-Marco', which was captured with 540 slaves on board. The destructive phenomenon was presumably a tsunami.