This painting shows a Dutch ship on calm waters. The ship is moving through a channel, towing a boat. The deck is full of figures all facing the bow of the ship. The vessel is depicted in port-bow view, as if about to sail past the spectator, displaying its minutely observed busy life on deck. It is flying the Dutch flag from the mainmast and a red flag with a device in gold at the stern. The view stretches to the horizon, suffused by light shimmering through the thin layer of clouds. In the distance the scene is flanked on either side by mountainous shores, crowned by a large medieval castle on the right. Although, the high rocks topped by a castle are not intended to be topographically correct, they are a motif used in Flemish landscape art which Vroom adopted into his marine work.
