Apart from his native Normandy and neighbouring Brittany, Boudin constantly lookded for inspiration from other maritime locations; from Bordeaux to Scheveningen, from Saint-Tropez to Nice and as far away as Venice. Between 1872 and 1873, he was particularly interested in painting ships and harbours at Brest, Camaret, Paimpol and Portrieux.

The philosopher-critic T.A. Castagnary so admired Boudin's marine pictures that he wrote: "Monsieur Boudin is the only one who treats the marine in this fashion, or rather, to use the better expression of Courbet, 'the landscape of the sea'. He has carved out a charming little kingdom for himself in this field, from which no one will dislodge him." (R.L. Benjamin, Eugéne Boudin, New York, 1937, p. 73)