Louis Burgade was born in Bordeaux in 1803, right in the middle of the Napoleonic Wars and the various blockades that were imposed on wartime France. Surviving the 12 years until peace came to Europe once more, he began to paint the busy port of Bordeaux and its local marine scenes. Deciding to travel further afield in 1824, Burgade appears to have visited Mauritius twice, once in the early 1830s and once in 1840. Stylistically this work dates to the latter trip, and he must have travelled aboard the Europe.