In foreground to the right of the centre is a starboard quarter view of van de Velde’s galjoot shown running down towards the fleet which is getting under way in the background. On the extreme left is Jan Evertsen, in the ‘Zeelandia’, with a flag at the main and pendant at the fore.

This is an unsigned pencil and wash drawing by the Elder. It is inscribed, ‘No 1 daer ick met den Visad/Jan evertsen op den 8 septembr/1664 op saterdach Inde vloot kam’ (No.1, when I joined the fleet with Vice-Admiral Jan Evertsen on Saturday 8 September 1664).

On the threat of war with England, the Dutch assembled a large fleet under L.-Admiral J. Van Wassenaer (Obdam) to protect the merchant ships bound for Guinea. It lay weather-bound near Goeree all the autumn and dispersed between 21 November and 1 December 1664. Van de Velde was present with this fleet and made a series of drawings, the most important of which are in the Boymans Museum, Rotterdam.

The drawing precedes PAJ2515, which also shows van de Velde joining the fleet a short time afterwards.