This painting, previously provisionally entitled 'Wreck On The Kentish Coast' and believed to depict sailors escaping a stricken vessel in a lifeboat is now believed to depict a rescue scene. The large boat going out to rescue survivors is visible in the middle foreground with a helmsman steering astern and four men rowing in pairs abreast. A fifth man is seated ahead of them while another man is standing in the bow and hailing the wreck. The wreck is a three-master with a fallen mizzen mast which is seen from astern with its bow pointing roughly west towards what appears a stormy evening sunset. An absence of a boat on the side of the sinking ship indicate that those on board have lost their own means of escape. The original identification of the scene as the Kentish Coast has also been placed in doubt and it has been suggested that the location is more likely to be Seaford Head from Hope Gap in Sussex.