The treatment of the subject is especially dramatic. The yellow and grey sky gives a sense of brooding to what would ordinarily have been an entirely banal event. The steamship has obviously had difficulty in casting its moorings owing to the choppy sea. The sense of drama is increased by the silhouetted figures on the jetty in the centre and left of the composition. The extreme roughness of the sea outside the shelter of the harbour is subtly suggested by the irregular horizon line in the centre distance of the painting.

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