A ca. 19ft carvel-built, gaff cutter-rigged fishing boat is seen with its starboard beam alongside a quay in Polperro, viewed stern-on. The stone quay is lined with heavy timber posts to which moorings are secured. On the quay in front of a tin-roofed stone shed rests a crab pot. On the starboard gunwale of the fishing boat a fisherman facing the camera wearing a guernsey and a homburg is tying gear to a starboard shroud. The boat's mainsail has been brailed up to the gaff, whose jaws are secured to the mast above head height; the staysail is furled at the stem. A similar boat lies directly ahead. A small motor workboat with doghouse and some pulling boats lie to the left of the image, before houses rising direct above the harbour wall.