A variety of shipping is shown in a calm. In the foreground on the left a small boat with two figures on board is rowing towards the left. One figure works at the oars and the other is standing up in the boat and attends to a fishing net on the starboard side. To the right is an elaborately decorated sixth-rate ship in port-quarter view. She flies a Union flag at the main and a pendant at the mizzen, which is probably a signal. Her port anchor is visible and may indicate that she is about to anchor. She is flying a salute to starboard as a ship's barge in the centre pulls away from her port quarter. A figure leans in a leisurely manner from the mizzen top, while other figures are occupied on the deck and in the rigging. In the left middle distance beyond is a royal yacht, viewed from before the port beam with her mainsail, topsail, foresail and jib set. Other vessels can be seen in the left distance. It is has been suggested that the main vessel is the 'Peregrine Galley', which was a 20-gun ship built at Sheerness in 1700, since it resembles an annotated pen and ink drawing of this vessel with manuscript notes relating to her decoration.