A double-ended pilchard driver, regd SS21 according to H.O. Hill's notebook but with only its port name of St Ives visible at its stern, is viewed from the starboard stern quarter under sail in a light wind, with a fleet of 10 or more other sailing luggers on the horizon. The gaff mizzen of the lugger in the foreground is cut off by the left-hand margin of the image. The boat has a dipping lug foresail hoisted, on a starboard reach, and has a wheelhouse fitted forward of the mizzen mast. Two crew members stand by the foremast by the windward gunwale.