The sea was a theme that Beal returned to repeatedly throughout his career. Here, the strong silhouette of the ship against the horizon line imparts the work with a distinctly modern feel. Another Beal version of the same monumental subject inspired the following:
… a school of large fish running sportively before the prow of an old whaler, documenting an experience of navigation which is rapidly becoming only a reminiscence To have seen at first hand a picturesque vessel of this sort, manned by sturdy and courageous seamen, pushing energetically through the turbulent sea with surf breaking about its prow and with sail bellied before a strong wind, must have been a thrilling experience. Only the bow of the vessel is shown in the composition, but in scale and suggestiveness of power it is so handled as to magnify the bigness of the theme. Mr. Beal has felt deeply and makes us understand the elemental strength and character of which the incident is possessed. The picture is thoughtfully designed and by the simplicity and directness of its narration suggests in a powerful way the restless forces of the ocean and of those lives shaped and molded by close association with it.
C.H.B.
Bulletin of The Detroit Institute of the Arts of the City of Detroit
October 1925