A three-quarter-length double portrait to the right, sitting on a trunk and facing forward towards the viewer. On the right, with grey eyes and a small grey beard, Ben the bargee sits squarely in the stern of the barge, his left hand resting on the tiller as his gaze confronts the viewer. He wears a grey sweater, dark trousers and a flat cap placed far back on his head. His hands and features are large and his ruddy complexion indicates a man used to working outside in all weathers. His wife sits on the left, her hands folded in her lap. She wears a green apron over her dress, a blue knitted hat, and stares ahead through brown eyes to meet the gaze of the viewer. The cranes of Hull docks are visible in the background, with grey-painted ships, one clearly an armed merchantman, present on the left and the right, with barges alongside. The barges probably conveyed coal and other cargo and thus they could have belonged as equally in the 19th century as in the 20th.

War changed civilian lives by bringing the unpredictable terror of bombing, and the positioning of the figures highlights the alienating effects of war on them, since the barge was their home as well as their place of work. The artist evokes such underlying fear through the frank gaze of the bargee and the stoicism implied by his wife's demeanour. The artist has also employed colour to convey this message with the grey of the wartime shipping behind acting as a foil for the brighter clothing and barge in the foreground. The lack of detail in the sketchy background sets the scene but confirms that the couple are the main subject of the painting.

At the outbreak of the Second World War the artist joined the auxiliary Fire Service and did portraits of his comrades as well as scenes of the Blitz. In 1941 he was made an official war artist and was attached to the Ministry of Transport. He visited Hull following his release from the Fire Service and suggested this subject to the War Artists Advisory Committee in June 1943, delivering the picture by the end of July. In 1944 Hailstone went to South-East Asia to paint Lord Mountbatten and key members of his staff. He later became President of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters.