Fishermen are pushing their vessels off the shore. In the left foreground, a man is clambering aboard the nearest pink, while two others are pushing her off and a man with a grapnel over his shoulder is walking towards her through the shallow water. In the centre, five men aboard another pink are busily pushing her off and setting the sails. In the right background is another pink with her mainsail set. The sketch, in which only the figures and the two vessels at the front have been re-drawn in ink, gives the strongly atmospheric impression of fresh winds and a liveliness of action. It is inscribed on the back: hollantse zee…/ naet leven (? Dutch shore scenes drawn from life).

The unsigned drawing has been tentatively attributed to Willem van de Velde, the Elder, and dated to 1655, when the artist was particularly busy with grisailles, in which he introduced groups of people in the foreground.