Antonio Jacobsen produced two images of the Kossack, the first an 1882 sketch now in the collection of the Mariner's Museum, Newport News, Virginia, and the second, the oil version painted a year later illustrated here. This depiction of the Kossack is unusual in that it portrays the half-brig from its starboard side, a departure from Jacobsen's more standard port side rendering.

The Kossack was built in 1866 by William H. Knight of East Machias, Maine. The ship was registered out of New York by Carleton & Moffat.