In the autumn of 1665 van de Velde, sailing in his galjoot, accompanied Admiral de Ruyter when he went north to accompany Pieter de Bitter’s fleet of Indiaman home, after they had driven off an attack by the English in the harbour at Bergen on 3 August 1665 (depicted in the oil painting by van de Velde the Younger, BHC0698). Van de Velde made a series of drawings during this time, and actually went to Bergen where he drew the Indiamen leaving and the harbour. The latter was to be a useful future reference for both himself, and the Younger when he painted his painting BHC0698 mentioned above.

The gale, shown in this drawing, occurred off the Dogger Bank as they were returning to Holland. The drawing is inscribed in Dutch by van de Velde in the upper left corner, in translation: ‘[?] Wednesday the 9 September 1665, when de Haen’s main course blew out of the bolt ropes … in the hours between Tuesday (and Wednesday); in the night we had the wind north and north by west’.