A bold use of wash emphasizes the play of light and shadow against the sails and water in this study, and indicates a low lying sun. On the left is a weather quarter view of a flute close-hauled on the port tack. In the right middle-distance, a starboard bow view of a ship before the wind. It is possibly by Van de Velde, the Younger, although Robinson suggests that the ship on the right is more certainly the work of the Elder.

The drawing is inscribed in ink: ‘W.V.V.J’.