A depiction of a stormy sea with several ships off a rocky coastline to the right, with outcrops of rock and a rocky shore in the foreground. Left of the centre a large three-masted ship is clawing off the dangerous lee-shore, close-hauled under reduced sail, and in port-quarter view. The portrayal of this ship is very detailed, with figures, ropes and pulleys of the rigging and the seams in the sails carefully shown. The highly decorative stern shows the carved image of a naked figure, possibly Fortuna. A small part of a wrecked vessel is to be seen near the rocks in the foreground and many little figures are trying to get ashore or hanging on to driftwood. On the right are two men who have just climbed on shore, one covering his face with his hands. Next to his head the painting bears the signature 'H. Staets'. White foam dashes over the rocks on the right, throwing up a film of spray.

In Dutch marine paintings the rocks, storm and ships may act as allegories symbolising the trials and tribulations of the life of man. The ship moving through the water becomes a metaphor for either man or the nation's journey through life. Prominently featured rocks in a stormy sea could imply man's endurance and steadfastness of faith and thus stand as symbols of constancy in virtue and in political principles. Alternatively, where rocks were shown in association with cliffs, they constituted a deadly danger to man. The power of a storm can either undermine and destroy the seemingly immovable or be emblematic of God's supreme power. Such ambivalence is implied here where one ship has already been wrecked. Thus although they constitute a danger, the rocks act as a symbol of hope, suggesting that land may also represent salvation for the men on board. Several figures have already reached salvation on the little boat in the foreground.

Simon de Vlieger was the first Dutch marine artist to introduce the motif of a rocky arch over water. He was believed to have influenced Hendrick Staets who worked in Leiden, and was a painter of finely crafted marine pictures in the Dutch realist manner. He was chiefly interested in the fashionable art of depicting storm-tossed ships off rocky coasts, but few biographical details about him are known. Although little survives that is readily identifiable, Leiden inventories indicate that he was a highly prolific artist. His work was rediscovered in the 1950s and stylistically he resembles Jan Porcellis, Pieter Mulier, Simon de Vlieger and Jacob Bellevois.