This painting shows the men of Newlyn at work. Fishing was a particularly dangerous job in the 19th century. Forbes shows the fishermen on a Cornish lugger, a traditional open topped fishing boat with two masts with sails. He liked Newlyn because of the wonderful light and the chance to live among the subjects of his paintings. It’s from 1886, oil paint on canvas. The main focus of the painting is the open deck of the lugger and Forbes has painted the scene as if he is actually on board the lugger standing with his back to the stern looking down the deck of the boat towards the pointed bow. He has also painted a small rowing boat to the right of the lugger's bow and in the distance, near the horizon where the sky and sea meet, are further luggers in full sail, some shown with their two sails clearly painted and others just small shapes in the far distance. The rowing boat has four passengers, a fisherman, a woman and two girls. They are looking towards a boy who is on board the lugger. To the left and facing the boy are two fishermen - one much older than the other. Around these two men are various pieces of equipment used for winching their catch into the hold - coils of ropes, chains, a pulley, a bucket and a capstan. To the right and behind the older fisherman is the boat's foremast set in the middle of the deck. The lower part of the unfurled sail is shown to the left of the mast and going off the painting on the left-hand side. Just visible below the sail is the hull of another boat with a small wave breaking on the bow showing that it is in forward motion. The tactile image is just over five times smaller than the actual painting and shows a simplified overview with the signature in the bottom right-hand corner. The sea and sky have no texture and are separated by a thin line. The strip of land is shown with a texture and this texture has also been used for the boy's and fishermen's trousers. The top rail along the sides of the lugger is shown by a very thick line that also outlines the entrance to the hold with the hold itself having no texture. A thinner line outlines the inside bottom edge of the lugger. The sail, deck and sides of the lugger are shown with a light texture. Solid texture shows the mast, boy and fishermen's boots and hats, red cloth bundle held by the boy, the lugger's equipment (capstan and pulleys), rowing boat, oars, gulls, distant luggers, and the hull of the boat showing from under the sail. The people in the rowing boat and the boy's and fishermen's jerseys are shown with a further texture with another texture for the oilskin coats. The ropes are shown with a textured line.