Regarded as America's first marine artist, Birch is known for his paintings of the early American shipping industry and for a series devoted to the naval engagements of the War of 1812. He was also drawn to shipwrecks, the subject of some of his most distinctive paintings. In this unusually large work, a violent storm has damaged the masts, sails, and rigging of a ship. As the crew lowers a lifeboat from the stern, a rescue boat approaches from the right. A sidewheeler and another vessel come to the crew's aid from the left.