In this drawing two men are depicted lying over a yard arm of a ship furling a small square sail. Van de Velde would almost certainly have drawn this from life and has done so using only a few lines to suggest the activity. Van de Velde made a large number of drawings of parts of ships, including their sails and rigging. These provided the information he needed for his oil paintings. The drawing is signed with his initials, but these may have been added later by somebody else.