This is the third print of four in Cleveley's well-known series from Captain James Cook's third voyage to the Pacific. It shows the 'Resolution' and 'Discovery' off Huaheine. Among the details, either one or both of the conical structures ashore are Cook's astronomical observation tents. According both to the captions on the prints and to the publisher's advertisement, original drawings were made during the voyage by James Cleveley, carpenter in the 'Resolution', and then turned into finished images by his brother John after James's return. Sets of titled engravings were produced by Francis Jukes and published by Thomas Martyn. Some doubts have been cast on whether these are based on original drawings by James as they contain details not accurate to the Pacific at the time, but rather taken from its wider European iconography (see Rüdiger Joppien and Bernard Smith, 'The Cleveley problem', Vol. III, pp. 216-221 in 'The Art of Cook's Voyages' [3 Vol.s, Yale UP 1988]).

The other three views show 'View of Morea, one of the Friendly Islands' (Moorea today being called Eimeo), 'View of Charlotte Sound in New Zealand' (actually a view in Matavai Bay, Tahiti), 'View of Owhyhee [Hawaii], one of the Sandwich Islands' (also known as 'The Death of Cook': see PAH7776). Three oil paintings of these views -excluding the last - are in the NMM collections; BHC1838 (the present example), BHC1896 and BHC1939, but are probably copies after the prints, not Clevelely's originals for them which are more likely to have been watercolours: he did paint in oil, but was more generally a draughtsman and watercolourist.