With no indication of the sea or surrounding land, this drawing is an unusual exercise in perspective, using only the vessels to indicate the picture space at recedes towards an invisible horizon. Beginning in the left foreground with a flute at anchor, the artist depicts a succession of vessels of the same type, each with a different configuration of sails. Equally, the drawing could represent the same flute, drawn at intervals as it sets sail and heads out to sea. In the centre a smaller boat or barge pulls away from the flute at anchor.