According to Christine B. Podmaniczky, of the N.C. Wyeth Project, the present work might have been intended to be a headpiece or a tailpiece for the story 'Foolish Like a Fox', but only the right side was chosen for the illustration. The following caption was published along with the final illustration: 'A gust, fiercer than any of its predecessors, heeled the Wanderer over and the lip of a comber climbed in over her counter and swept aft to the break of the poop.'