A portrait of a brig shown in three positions, a common convention of ship portraiture. In the centre the vessel is shown in port-broadside view, to the left in stern view and to the right in bow view. The main image shows the 'Ariel', flying the red ensign, with a man on the deck gesturing towards figures in a boat rowing towards the ship in the foreground to the right. Such brigs were widely used for short and coastal trading voyages. The landscape in the background is thought to indicate the Isle of Bute, of the Argyll coast of Scotland. In Salmon's work technical accuracy and careful delineation are informed by personal experience and intimate knowledge of the sea. This has led to the assumption that he probably supplemented his income as an artist by working in shipping or related industry.

He was born in Whitehaven, Cumberland, where his family probably worked as mariners. He moved to London in the late 1790s and then to Liverpool in 1806. In 1828 he left England for Boston, Massachusetts, where he became a successful painter of marine views ranging from small panels and canvases to theatrical moving panorama scenes. He returned to Europe about 1840 and died between 1848 and 1851, though where is uncertain. The painting is signed and dated lower left.