Harry Chase was one of the American artists who, after their studies in Europe – often at the academies of Düsseldorf or Munich – spent several years in the Netherlands to get acquainted with the much admired impressionism of the Hague School. In 1879 the painter came to The Hague for a longer period of time, painted the North Sea coast with his fishermen and visited the studio of Josef Israels and Hendrik Willem Mesdag. The latter artist's work impressed him so much that Chase decided to become a marine painter. After his return to the United States, he often painted the harbors and sea around New Bedford from his yacht 'Bonnie'.