Both ships depicted here appear to be Blackwall frigates - a development of the East Indiamen. The ship amongst the icebergs is thought to be the Kent, on passage from Melbourne to England, when about 300 miles south of New Zealand on October 27th 1861, she was nearly embayed by them.

The only Blackwall frigate to burn was the Walmer Castle, off Samarang in Java in 1876. It is thought that this might indeed be her.