A busy commercial center, Helvoet was situated on either side of a shipping chanel used by merchant craft and warships of the Dutch Navy. Farms and gardens occupied the surrounding lowlands. Again on May 16th, Bodmer sketched a view of a farmer's house during an afternoon excursion into the countryside.

On May 15th, Maximillian's party left Rotterdam for the port of Helvoet. On their arrival, Bodmer took advantage of the oppurtunity afforded by a delay in transporting the luggage ashore to make a quick pencil sketch of the city as seen from the waterfront.

The voyage to North America began on the morning of May 7, 1832, when Prince Maximilian departed Neuwied for the Dutch port of Rotterdam on the Rhine steamer Concordia. With him were Bodmer and David Dreidoppel, an experienced hunter and taxidermist. Arriving at Rotterdam on May 9, the travelers put up at a hotel to await transport to the channel mouth at Helvoetsluys. On May 13, Bodmer made this watercolor study of an American ship in the harbor.