Inscribed in the plate l. L. : painted by robt. Smirke; l. C. : aquatinta by f. Jukes; l. R. : engraved by robt pollard; b. : the departure / of s. W. Prentice, ensign of the 84th regt & five others from their shipwrecked companions in the depth of winter 1781. Mr prentice was sent with public dispatches from govr haldiman at quebec, to sir heny clinton at new york, who with 18 seamen & passengers, were cast away on a desolate / uninhabited part of the island of cape breton decr 5; 1780. Five perished and several lost their fingers & toes by the severity of the cold. The survivors continued in this place several weeks when mr prentice & such as were able, embarked in a small shatterd boat to seek some inhabited country. The stopped / the leakes of their boat by pouring water on its bottom till the holes were closed up with ice. During a voyage of two months in which they suffered incredible hardships; & at length worn out with fatigue, benumbed, diseased & famished. They were discovered by some of the native indians. These friendly / savages afterwards went to assist those who had been left at the wreck of whom 5 only were found alive & they had subsisted many days on the bodies of their dead companions. / see ensign prentice's narrative. / london, pubd march 8 1784 by r. Pollard no. 15 braynes row, spa fields, & r. Wilkinson no. 58 cornhill. Date: 1874.
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