Hand-colored lithograph depicting a whaleboat, with its harpooneersman about to strike, approaching a large spouting baleen whale from the left. The whale already has one harpoon in its back. With a ship boiling blubber, and another whaleboat in the background. In top margin, the name of the series of lithographs, "Sc̬nes Maritimes", is printed. The artist attributions, publisher information, and title are printed in the lower margin.
Part of a series of eleven lithographs; the others are entitled "un homme �� la mer", "mar̩e montante", "amarinage", "incendie en mer", "d̩tresse", abordage", "grain", "pilote", "p̻che �� la baleine", "paquebot recueillant des naufrag̩s", and "pirate".