Despite its peaceful impression, this is a pencil study, from ahead, of the 'Vindictive' alongside the mole at Zeebrugge on 23 April 1918 during the height of the raid - between midnight, when she secured, and 01.05 when she slipped her anchors. The requisitioned Mersey ferry 'Daffodil' is on the left pushing against the bow of the 'Vindictive' to keep her in position hard alongside. This is probably one of the preliminary studies for Wyllie's oil painting of 'The Storming of Zeebrugge Mole, St George's Day, 23 April 1918' (exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1931), now at HMS 'Excellent', the naval gunnery school at Whale Island, Portsmouth, which shows 'Vindictive from this angle but a higher viewpoint as Marines disembark onto the mole on the right.