A panoramic view of the battle of Solebay, the opening battle of the third Anglo-Dutch War (1672-74). The Dutch fleet, under Lieutenant-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter, pre-emptively surprised the combined English and French fleets as they lay at anchor in Southwold Bay (Solebay) on the eastern English coast. After a fiercely contested battle, in which Admiral Edward Montagu, Earl of Sandwich’s flagship ‘Royal James’ was burnt, the Dutch were driven off, but not before the Allied fleet was so mauled that it was impossible to attempt the projected landing in Holland.

This drawing was made from the English side and shows mostly lee broadside views of the English ships close-hauled on the starboard tack. In the right middle distance a ship flying a flag at the mizzen is presumably the ‘Charles’, commanded by Admiral Sir John Harman. The central vessel, with a flag at the fore, is presumably Sir Edward Spragge’s ‘London’. Van de Velde has mistakenly shown both these vessels flying pendants at the main, in the Dutch manner: it is unlikely that he would have made such an error had he been in England longer when he made the drawing. In the left middle distance is a ship with flags at each masthead, surely the Duke of York in the ‘Royal Prince’. Above the smoke beyond can be seen De Ruyter’s flag and pendant, and at the extreme left, a vessel with a dark flag at the main: presumably Sandwich in the ‘Royal James’.

The left half of the drawing is very close to the composition of Van de Velde’s painting of the Battle of Solebay in the Rijksmuseum (2483).