Prominently positioned in the right foreground is a ship viewed from before the port beam. Heavy seas break over the fore part as it sinks close to the towering rocks. Her mainmast has gone and, although the foremast and mizzen mast are still standing, her topmasts have been carried away. She has a tattered red ensign on a staff at the taffrail, tattered remnants of sails, lines flying loose in the storm and figures clinging to the rigging. The pitch of the ship reveals figures huddled on what is left of the deck, awaiting their inevitable fate. In the right corner there is a rock onto which three men have climbed to safety. Beyond, a second ship, in starboard-bow view, is about to be driven onto the craggy shore. Her foremast is standing and there is a plain red pennant at that masthead. Men can be seen desperately clinging to the rigging and to ropes dangling over the side. The dark clouds of the stormy sky break behind the principal ship and display a glowing pink and orange light. This increases in intensity on the breakers around the ship that is wrecked as well as on the sails of the ship about to be run aground.