This detailed historical illustration depicts a whimsical, chaotic ocean filled with a variety of mythical sea creatures and wooden sailing vessels. The composition is dense and crowded, with monsters of all shapes and sizes swimming alongside ships, suggesting the maritime folklore of early cartography. A giant, serpentine creature with a scaly body and a toothy maw dominates the lower foreground, stretching horizontally across the scene.
Above the sea, a narrow land strip features various terrestrial animals, including deer, foxes, and a bear, moving across a wooded landscape. The ocean itself is depicted with stylized, repetitive wave patterns. Each of the many creatures, ranging from lobster-like beings to horned sea-beasts and fish with mammalian faces, is marked with a specific letter of the alphabet, referencing an unseen legend or key. A small, leafy tree grows on a tiny island at the left edge.
The style is reminiscent of Renaissance woodcut engravings, characterized by bold, clean black ink lines and muted, flat washes of colour including ochre, sage green, and rusty red. The perspective is flattened and decorative, typical of period map illustrations. The overall mood is one of curiosity and historical wonder, capturing the imaginative, often frightening, interpretations of the deep sea from a bygone era.