The stylized rolling Kent countryside on either side of the river is populated with ships of the Royal Navy, laid-up 'in ordinary' (in reserve), upstream of the Royal Dockyard at Chatham, which is out of sight, lower right. In the foreground an official naval barge is crossing the waterway. The Frindsbury Peninsula can be seen in the middle ground on the right. On the left, the scene is framed by an oak tree, which provides the viewer with a landmark to enter the composition visually. Beyond it, across grass with a couple of figures, lie Chatham parish church and private houses, with the hill sloping down towards the river. The only indication of the Dockyard, out of frame lower right, are two sets of tenterhooks used for stretching the canvas needed for making ships' sails in the yard sail-loft, which still exists at the southern end of what is now the Historic Dockyard at Chatham. In the background on the same side of the winding river lies Rochester. Its cathedral and Norman castle, as well as its bridge, are lit by the sunlight entering the composition from the left.