Louis Le Breton specialized in marine paintings which he created while working for the French Navy. This particular work depicts a view of ships arriving in the New York harbor from a transatlantic voyage. The foremost and largest ship dons a French flag and American flag. Other watercrafts head in various directions, leaving planes of colliding choppy wakes behind them. The city rests on the horizon beneath what must have been the gray sky of an overcast day. The ultra-precise details achieved through the etching process create a haze of mast ropes and building spires on the horizon.