A Dutch Admiralty yacht is shown in the centre of the picture, in stern and starboard-quarter view, towing a ship's boat. It has an ornately decorated stern which was a typical feature of Admiralty yachts. It would also have contained a spacious cabin with sleeping quarters and a galley. Such yachts were used by members of executive boards in the Netherlands such as the Admiralty boards, chambers of the United East India Company, the States General and the governments of the maritime provinces. They sailed on inland waterways and the Zuyder Zee as well as the North Sea. On the right, in the foreground, there is a small boat containing three men being rowed by a crew wearing distinctive headdresses. Other Dutch shipping flying the Dutch flag can be seen in the distance on the right. The port of Flushing (Vlissingen), can be seen in the distance, with recognizable buildings including the church tower. Three-quarters of the picture is filled with sky. The typical marine artist's device of a barrel floats in the water on the left together with a spar in the foreground on the right.

The painting may have been commissioned by an official body with maritime interests at Flushing. It is inscribed 'CW' on the floating spar lower right, which may account for its revived attribution to Cornelis Claesz van Wieringen. However, its subject and style make it more likely to have been painted by a later artist active from the 1650s, in the circle of Abraham Storck or Willem van de Velde the Younger.