A four-masted barque wearing foul-weather rig is shown making its way through a heavy sea in this port-bow view. Ships such as this were used as trading vessels, including in the grain and nitrate trades to South American ports round Cape Horn. Since this British-born artist lived in Valparaiso, Chile, where he ran a painting school from 1874 until he returned to England in 1892, it is likely that portraits such as this were made from personal observation. By placing the ship high on the horizon, the artist has used a curious sense of perspective to create the illusion of movement and the power of the ocean. The painting is an evocation of the era of sail, which by 1910 was giving way to steam.

Somerscales excelled at creating paintings of ships under sail. In 1893 he began to exhibit at the Royal Academy but kept his contacts in Chile and subsequently made a number of visits there. The painting is signed and dated in lower right corner. 'Somerscales 1910'.