This is a ship portrait viewed from close on the starboard bow. On the ship’s taffrail, the ornately-carved railing around the stern, is a coat of arms supported by dolphins.

The drawing is closely related to another work by Van de Velde in the Boymans Museum, Rotterdam (M1866/ T 226). This work is a portrait of the ‘Jarsveld’ viewed from close on the port bow and probably in reverse. This particular drawing is in fact drawn in isometric perspective. The Greenwich drawing is either an offset or is based on an offset, with a few alterations. It may well have served as the original to the faint offset of the Boymans work and was later worked up in pencil and wash while the Boymans offset was worked up in pencil alone.

The drawing is executed with accuracy but is in isometric perspective. It was probably based on an offset and has been approximately dated by its watermark.