The full-rigged ship Monk was built at Nobleborough, Maine, in 1805. First registered in Salem, Massachusetts, on 19 October 1805, she was recorded as 253 tons burden, and measured 88 1/2 feet in length with a 25 1/2 foot beam. Owned by William Orne, she was commanded by Captain John W. Allen until 1809 and thereafter by Captain Jonathan P. Felt. Her regular trade routes out of Salem were to Spain, the Mediterranean ports and the Netherlands and her cargoes included salt, raisins, brandy, wine, cotton, gin and currants. Her career was short-lived however and when the U.S. declared war on England in June 1812, thus puting their entire merchant fleet at the mercy of the numerically superior Royal Navy, Monk proved an early casualty when she was captured off Cape Ann, Massachusetts, on 23 August 1812 and taken to Halifax, Nova Scotia, as a British prize of war.

An identical version of this work - painted for the master, Captain Allen - is held in the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts [see M.V. & Dorothy Brewington's catalogue 1968, p.25, number 99 (illustrated)], thereby suggesting that this work was executed on behalf of the Monk's owner William Orne.