This seascape of a smuggler being chased by a brig at night uses established theatrical means to create a sensation of adventure for the viewer. Across dark waves, which are lit dramatically out of tempestuous clouds, a smuggler is trying to escape. In the background, topographical features – which may relate to the British Channel coast – can be seen. Here, a fire reveals further raid-related action on the beach. In the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century a scene like this fulfilled the audience’s appetite for romantic and adventurous narratives, this was also reflected in contemporary literature. The artist, like many other British marine painters, was a seaman who recorded his experiences in paint and charcoal. Several of the 27 watercolours by him in the National Maritime Museum are mounted on sheets from eighteenth-century printed signal and muster books.