The brig-sloop HMS 'Fantome', 19th century (lithograph, coloured)

Creator: N. E. Deey [artist & engraver]; George Edward Madeley [printer]; T. Gillard [publisher] Inscribed in pencil on back “H. M. S. Fantome”. This ship, initially commissioned for anti-slavery patrols, detained numerous Brazilian, Portuguese and Spanish vessels off the West African and South American coasts in the early 1840s. She later (1850s-60s) performed various roles in Australasian waters. Here she is depicted cruising off an unidentifiable coastline, with a paddle steamer shown closer in shore to right. Deey appears to have slightly misrepresented her armament, showing nine (instead of eight) starboard-side guns. SLR0765 is a contemporary model of a vessel of the same class, the ‘Pilot’ (1838); close comparison between these two items suggests further inaccuracies on the artist’s part, such as a misrepresentation of the spacing of the gunports and chain wales.