William Turner’s marine paintings often featured dark skies, choppy waters, and imperilled sailors. Calais Pier (1803) is no exception. It shows a Cumulonimbus storm cloud giving an English packet boat a bumpy landing at the quay. But despite depicting a turbulent scene, this painting is in fact a product of peace. Turner had visited Calais, France in 1802. This visit was only possible due to the Treaty of Amiens, which temporarily ended hostilities between France, the Spanish Empire, and the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, this would only be a brief break in the conflict, as the Napoleonic Wars soon followed. Perhaps this is why Turner included in his scene a small patch of blue sky beyond the sunlit summit of a distant Cumulus congestus – a suggestion of calmness amid the chaos.