A large sloop-rigged yacht, in port-broadside and full sail, is in the foreground to the left. On the far right a ketch-rigged Thames barge is in starboard broadside, and a ketch-rigged stumpie barge is in the distance on the left. The painting shows a calm sea, with a breeze indicated by the billowing sails and disturbance on the water. The image is flooded with light indicated by highlight and shadow on the yacht, the vivid quality of the blue sea and the red and white on the buoy in the foreground to the left. The inclusion of the buoy provides compositional interest and locates the viewer low down above the waterline.

The artist came from a nautical family and travelled widely between 1885 and 1908. It is not known where he studied painting but his style closely identifies with Thomas Somerscales and Edoardo de Martino. De Martino was marine painter to Queen Victoria, Edward VII and George V, and he received more commissions than he could manage. So he got Fraser to paint some of these for him, which he then finished and signed.