Convention appears to require that the observer face northward in such Atlantic encounters, so here the ship is homeward bound against the prevailing westerlies.
Conditions are so severe that all sails have been securely stowed except the main topsail.
Despite being fully reefed, this has just blown out, leaving little immediate alternative but to ride it out until matters improve. Although badly frayed, the U.S. ensign still flies at the after peak, an indication to the approaching steamer that no assistance is required. These dates fit the July 1842 inscription on the reverse of the painting, and suggest that the subject depicts an incident on a previous passage. The artist did not generally number his paintings, although he may have done so in a separate record book now lost. If he started to number his paintings at about age twenty, this would suggest a figure of about 110 paintings annually, or about two a week.