An unrigged fishing boat, with the leeboard visible, lies in starboard-bow view on a mudflat, with one man still aboard. Three other men are variously occupied close by, the man on the far left stooping to gather mussels to place in his basket. In the central foreground a man wearing a red cap and gloves holds a shallow basket full of fish in his right hand and tows a plank behind him with his left. He is heading towards the boat. The third man stands next to the boat, lifting a full basket of shell-fish, while his spade stands in the mud next to him. In the shallow water in the foreground to the right, a man in a red hat sits in a shallop, rowing two other men towards the mudflat. On the far left of the picture a sailing vessel and a larger ship can be seen in the background, and the stillness of the water emphasises the calm of the scene.