A remarkably fluent and economical drawing of the action at Vigo Bay that took place in the opening year of the War of the Spanish Succession. Admiral George Rooke, in command of a large Anglo-Dutch allied fleet returning from an unsuccessful attempt to capture Cadiz, learned of a valuable Spanish treasure fleet that had put into Vigo Bay in north-west Spain with its French escort. Rooke arrived to discover that Chateaurenault, the French admiral, had laid a boom defence of masts across the inner harbour, covered by guns from sea and land, and had positioned his largest men-of-war to cover it. Admiral Thomas Hopsonn, aboard his flagship ‘Torbay’, 80 guns, was ordered to break the boom while the Duke of Ormonde’s troops assaulted the forts. The Anglo-Dutch fleet followed astern of Hopsonn, capturing every ship not already burnt by the French, along with considerable treasure.

This view from the westward shows about fifteen English and twelve Dutch ships running in towards the boom of masts at the mouth of Redondela harbour, at the moment when Hopsonn was breaking it. Broadside on to the boom are a Dutch admiral and vice-admiral, presumably Callenburgh and Van der Goes, and a rear-admiral in the foreground. Just beyond the boom are the ‘Bourbon’ and ‘Espérance’ and five other French ships. Further up the harbour are the remaining French ships and the Spanish galleons lying unrigged. In the left foreground is a single-masted English vessel.