Several visits to Clovelly in Devon prompted him to adopt coastal scenes as his main motif and showed the hardship and rewards of life by the sea.
At the time of his death, Ruehl lived in the eastern Sydney suburb of Clovelly, with his wife Jennifer and their three children, Mercedes, John and Tom.
It was founded at the instigation of Mr John Rye, a philanthropic retired medical man of Bath, Somerset and his servant Mr Charles Gee Jones, a former Bristol Pilot and Landlord of the Pulteney Arms in Bath, following the tragic loss of life from the Clovelly fishing fleet in a severe storm in November 1838.
The 13th-century Testa de Nevill lists the manor of Clovelly as being held by Sir Roger Giffard from his overlord Sir Walter Giffard of Wear.