The view in Moonlit Fleet in St Ives Bay across the bay towards Godrevy Lighthouse is almost identical to that seen in Moonlit Shore, probably Olsson's most famous work, acquired by the Chantry Bequest for the new Tate Gallery (now Tate Britain) in 1912. But in our painting, and unusualy for the artist, we also have an historic record of the St Ives fleet of Seine fishing boats.

Seine fishing in St Ives was on an industrial scale in the 19th century with more pilchards caught by the St Ives fleet than the rest of Cornwall's fishing boats put together. Across the 19th century billions of pilchards were caught, salted in barrels and shipped to markets in Italy, Spain and as far afield as New York. 

It's relatively rare for the late C19th - early C20th artists that coalesced around Julius Olsson to record the presense of the St Ives fishing fleet; more commonly Olsson would paint a distant tall ship on the horizon.