On the right, viewed form before the port beam is the ‘Royal Sovereign’ under fore course, and fore and mizzen topsails; only vanes at the mastheads. A galliot is in the right foreground. In the left foreground is a stern view of a ketch at anchor with her main yard lowered. In the left distance is the ‘Victory’ before the wind.

This drawing is likely to have been made immediately following the Firsy Battle of Schooneveld, the first that van de Velde the Elder observed from the English side. At the battle, 28 May [OS] /7 June 1673, the ‘Royal Sovereign’ bore no flag. Prince Rupert shifted his flag into her between the 1 and 5 June [OS].

The drawing of the ‘Royal Sovereign’s jack has been corrected by being made smaller with touches of pen and brown ink, probably by van de Velde the Younger, who continued to use his father's drawings as resources and teaching materials.