A painting showing the 'Hercules' and 'Eenhorn' off the port of Hoorn. The city harbour was a popular subject in 17th-century Holland and those painters who could represent the city's economic link with the sea found great success. The Dutch port cities had reason to be proud, since Holland's extraordinary wealth hinged on the pursuit and defence of global shipping. Peeters the Elder was born in Antwerp and he produced some of the finest Flemish marine paintings. He was commissioned to paint harbour views such as this by several proud city authorities, and he was made a Master of the Guild of Antwerp in the same year that he produced this painting, when he was only twenty.

The port of Hoorn is visible in the background, with the buildings of the town, such as the church tower and the fortifications on the far left, dominating the skyline. Best known for his dramatic shipwreck and storm pictures, in this painting Peeters works in a naturalistic idiom, evoking a breezy day in the roads off Hoorn. This was one of the most prosperous ports of the Zuider Zee and prominent for its involvement with East Indies trade and the fishing industry. The Dutch warship depicted on the right of the picture is the 'Hercules', which has just come to anchor and is lowering the sails on her fore and main masts. She flies the Dutch flag at the fore, and the flag of Hoorn. On her stern is a depiction of Hercules and the Lion and the motif of Hoorn. A man standing in the stern blows a trumpet and sailors are visible in the rigging. Immediately ahead of her, the stern of a small merchantman is visible. Beyond lies a second warship, the 'Eenhorn', with sails furled flying the Dutch double-prince flag of the Amsterdam Admiralty, together with the province of Holland's sailing flag. On the left is a single-masted speeljacht, a type of Dutch pleasure yacht common in the 17th century, flying the States General flag from mid-17th century. The identity of the 'Eenhorn' is uncertain since two ships called 'Eenhorn' are recorded; a warship of 34 guns built in 1623 and one of 30 guns built in 1625.

Peeters is perhaps better known for small-scale cabinet paintings to hang in prosperous private houses. This is a relatively large public painting by him. The painting is signed 'B.P' and dated.