The shipwreck of the Halsewell East Indiaman during the night of 5/6 January 1786, off the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset, England. The scene portrays Captain Richard Pierce with his two daughters Eliza and Mary Anne on his knees in the round-house where the lady passengers had been gathered. The ship was then being beaten against the rocks of the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset, and there was no hope of the ladies getting off alive. At left are two officers, Meriton and Rogers, who survived and wrote the account of the shipwreck, including this particular scene, which became a famous story.