Portrait of the ‘Vrijheid’, viewed from the port beam with, on the broadside, twelve guns on the gun deck and upper deck and three on the quarterdeck.

The work is inscribed ‘…schip van capt balcke/…de gevecht van de ruijter/... kaneel’ (Captain [Auke] Balk’s ship in de Ruyter’s fight in the Channel). Balk was not in de Ruyter’s squadron in the action in the mouth of the Channel on 16-26 August 1652, but was second to him in the ‘Vrijheid’ in the three-day action beginning off Portland on 18-28 February 1653, where he was killed.

The hull drawing has been roughly cut out, laid on a larger piece of paper and the lower masts then added. It is an accurate representation of the ship, but after many corrections, which led to the cutting out of the hull and pasting on the second sheet. A heavy wash has been put on but with more definition added by rather hesitant brown pen-work.