This stormy scene depicts the Royal navy ships Queen and Princess Royal in a heavy sea. Princess Royal, shown in port bow view on the right of the picture, heels to starboard in a strong following wind. Her lower courses are heavily reefed and her top gallants are spilling wind. Queen, shown in starboard broadside view in the centre of the picture, also has a similar sail configuration, but her mainsails appear to be backed, perhaps to counteract the wind while communicating with the Princess Royal. Queen is also under steam and smoke issues from her funnel. In the left foreground, a small, fore-and-aft rigged boat with only the mainsail part raised, heels heavily to port as her three crew struggle to keep her on course. The mainsail is inscribed “P2”.