A dramatic painting showing a French paddle tug bringing a barque into the port of Boulogne. The event takes place in very heavy weather and the sea is shown crashing against the harbour wall at Boulogne on the left. The paddle tug can be seen in the centre of the picture, flying the French flag. Her smoke belches out as she struggles through the mountainous sea to the aid of the barque shown behind the tug with her sails lowered. Wreckage can be seen in the foreground and there is other shipping in the distance. On the harbour wall a large crowd has gathered to witness the rescue.

The artist Thomas Bush Hardy was primarily a watercolour artist and so this painting is unusual for him as it is painted in oils. Prolific, he spent much of his time working on the Dutch and northern French coasts, such as Boulogne illustrated here. The painting is signed ‘T.B. Hard' (ey) with the ‘e’ and ‘y’ added later in different colour and character.