Wyllie and his wife frequently went on cruises and sometimes travelled on P & O liners. The topography suggests that the location of the scene depicted in this watercolour is the harbour of Funchal, on the island of Madeira, but the date of the pictures is likely to be later than a similar occasion described by Mrs Wyllie in 'We Were One (1935). This had taken place during a cruise on the Orient Line 'Garonne' in the early 1890s:

'We next anchored off St. Pierre, which was clothed to the very top with delicate bright green sugar canes... Very early next morning the ship was surrounded with diving boys who had pulled out to her in roughly constructed boats with very fanciful names.'

M.A. Wyllie, ‘We Were One’ (London: Bell & Son Ltd., 1935)