Signed and dated, lower left, and also inscribed by the artist with the names of the two ships (in the sea below them). The frame also bears an extensive inscription of which part is the title: '"Vindictive" returning home ... from Zeebrugge after assisting the landing on the Mole, April 23 1918'.

Having taken a great deal of upper-works damage alongside the Mole at Zeebrugge on 23 April 1918, 'Vindictive' left soon after 01.15 on the 24th when it was, of course, still dark. A contemporary account by Lieutenant-Commander Edward Hilton Young RNVR, who was on board her at the time, says she sped away 'with flames pouring from her battered funnels', but - despite Dixon showing this - they had stopped flaming by the time dawn broke. The destroyer 'Warwick' (on the left) was launched on 28 December 1917 and completed on 18 March 1918. For the Zeebrugge raid she was the flagship of Vice-Admiral Roger Keyes and is shown flying his flag. (The present frame inscription, which includes his signal 'Well done, Vindictive', wrongly calls him 'Admiral Sir Roger' for the date). Here Dixon has also made 'Warwick's' second funnel much too large. PAJ2980 is a related watercolour by Dixon showing 'Vindictive' alongside the mole at Zeebrugge.