An evocative Thames scene showing lighters and barges in Limehouse Reach.

The paddle steamer in the centre of the painting is towing a barge on the left, a rowing boat and two lighters. The lighter farthest right is laden with barrels and a crew of four are seated in the bow with a fifth man on the tiller in the stern. The smoke from the paddle steamer partly obscures the barge and rowing boat. The buildings of Limehouse are captured in a shaft of sunlight in the distance on the right. The distinctive spire of St Anne's church, one of the three great Hawkesmoor churches in the East End can be seen with the octagonal water tower just in view to the left.

The name Limehouse came from the lime kilns sited there from the 14th century onwards. The lime produced was used for the plaster in the wattle and daub timber-framed buildings of the period. The painting also shows Thames barges under sail as well as lighters and small boats moored near the wharves. By the 19th century the lighters tied up at the small wharves there, used for barge building and repairs. Limehouse remained important due to its links with the sea as the commercial aspect of London grew.

The artist was an American landscape and rural painter who was an active exhibitor in London. James Whistler greatly admired Hunt's work and regarded such river scenes as more important and artistically rare than those of Edwin Ellis, Alfred East or W.L. Wyllie.