Oil on canvas. The night sky glows with a soft, eerie moonlight as two ships simultaneously fire their cannons, leaving clouds of smoke lingering on the water. The artist of this work, Richard Barnett Spencer, is known to have copied from engravings and paintings by fellow marine painters, adapting the originals to create unique compositions and this work may be Spencer’s interpretation of the painting 'A Smuggler Chased by a Brig' by Thomas Buttersworth (National Maritime Museum, Greenwich). The coastline in the background appears to relate to the shore around Dover.
