A port quarter view of the iron sailing barque Maipu (1865) semi-submerged by the bows at the north end of Hell Bay, Bryher, Isles of Scilly. The tide is out with the stern aground and the bow is semi-submerged to just below the bowsprit. The yard for the main mast is still in place (unlike in G14375). The long exposure has left the ship's boat alongside with two men in it, and the man climbing aboard the ship, blurred. A line with a block attached leads to the rocks ashore from the stern. The foreground at the bottom is dominated by the large boulders of the shoreline in Hell Bay. Scilly Rock is in the background.

The non-emulsion side has heavy use of red masking fluid on the left and right sides in the sky to produce cloud effects.

The iron three-masted barque Maipu was on passage from Iquique to Hamburg with a cargo of saltpetre when it tried to weather the Isles of Scilly in thick fog. After hearing a sound, but then unable to hear or see anything more, the captain ordered the helm over to weather the ship but as it came about the ship struck the rocks at Bryher on 27 July 1879 and slowly sank by the bows. The sails were clewed up and taken down and boats got out to take soundings. A line ashore meant that some of the crew could land on Bryher. The ship became a total loss and broke up by 18 August 1879.