A middle-distant elevated starboard bow view of the Italian steam cargo steamer Rosalia (1892), on rocks below Hartland Quay. The ship is heeling to port. The boat davits are lowered and empty. The photographer was standing on the grass bank above the road leading down to the quay, overlooking the roof of the row of cottages towards the wreck. A group of people are standing at the edge of the quay looking at the ship. The tide is out. exposing the foot of the stem jammed in the rocks.

The Rosalia was in ballast steaming between Genoa and Newport, Monmouth, when it grounded in calm seas and fog on 27 May 1904. Despite preparations being made to tow Rosalia off, the ship had already been holed badly and was underwater on the high tide.