Four Indiamen preparing to leave the lower Thames with passengers embarking in the foreground

John Wilson Carmichael was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the son of a shipwright, in 1799. As a young boy he went to sea during the Napoleonic Wars, but on his return at sixteen was apprenticed to Farrington Brothers, a local firm of shipwrights and joiners. The Farringtons encouraged Carmichael to make a career in painting, and in 1835 he became a member of the Royal Society for British Artists. He was also a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy until 1859.
Carmichael had moved from Newcastle to London with his family by 1847, where he increasingly painted London river views such as the present work, his attention to detail and ships' rigging reflecting his already intimate knowledge of shipping.