The final battle of the Third Dutch War, in which the English and French fleets tried to dislodge de Ruyter prior to invading Holland. De Ruyter was drawn out from his defensive coastal position but inflicted such damage that the allies had to retreat to refit, ending the summer campaign. Peace was signed early in 1674 before fighting could resume.

This is one of ten drawings showing the action, in chronological order (PAJ2528, PAJ2529, PAJ2530, PAJ2531, PAJ2532, PAJ2533, PAJ2534, PAJ2525 and PAH1823), with this one being a variant of PAJ2525. It is a carefully composed sketch for a painting of the defense of the ‘Royal Prince’. This is marked ‘a’ in the middle distance with only her foremast standing, engaged with Cornelis Tromp’s ‘Gouden Leeuw’ (marked ‘e’) on her starboard beam. In the right foreground is a lee bow view of the ‘St George’ (‘b’) as Sir Edward Spragge leaves her to go on board the ‘Royal Charles’ (‘g’). Prince Rupert (‘c’) is bearing down in the background. There is a Dutch ship (‘d’) on the starboard quarter of the ‘Royal Prince’ and a smaller one (‘d’) burning in the background. As in PAJ2525, the positions of the ships and the time of Spragge’s shifting his flag are incorrect.

The drawing is signed ‘W.V.V.J’.