When this early seascape debuted at the 1879 Impressionist exhibition, one critic remarked that it was directly influenced by Manet. The handling of paint and composition, especially the high horizon line, echo Manet's two depictions of American warships,?The Kearsarge at Boulogne and?The Battle of the Kearsarge and the Alabama?(Philadelphia Museum of Art), which Monet may have seen on exhibition in Paris in 1865 and 1867. He later-and incorrectly-dated this work to 1865; he visited the Normandy coast in 1866 and 1867.�