British men-of-war of the late 17th century are shown at sea. Three ships are clearly visible, although the key provided on the left-hand side – painted illusionistically so as to resemble an affixed label – indicates four and does not tie-up in any straight-forward manner to those depicted. This canvas is probably the surviving part of a much larger picture. Based upon the number of guns painted, the ship in the foreground is most likely the 'Fairfax', with the 'Elizabeth' probably close by. This is not consistent with Sailmaker's key, and so the circumstances of the painting remain a mystery.

Sailmaker was born in Scheveningen in 1633, and immigrated to England when young. He was an early marine painter working in England prior to 1710, although he had not benefited from the typical marine artist's apprenticeship. He was, however, among the artistic followers of the van de Veldes, who left Holland for England in 1672, and established a flourishing school of marine painting in London.

If this painting is by Sailmaker, it seems more likely that it represents the ‘Fairfax’ launched in 1653 than the one accidentally burnt earlier that year at Chatham, as the artist would have been only twenty when the earlier ship was lost – although it is thought that he was employed by Oliver Cromwell in 1657.

The inscription on the bottom left of the picture (unclear in parts) is probably as follows: “No. 1. ‘Assurance’(?) 450 tons, 46 guns (?) 4 | 2. ‘Elizabeth’ 420 46 4 | 3. ‘Tiger’ 420 46 4 | 4. ‘Fairfax’ 860 60 3”, with the latter digits providing each ships’ rating.

This item's traditional dating (“c.1680”) remains in place but belies the fact that the ‘Elizabeth’ was sunk in 1667. No like-for-like replacement was made – the next ship of that name was a 72-gun second-rate launched 1679. Thus, the period in which all four ships specified in the picture’s label could have in reality have appeared together is restricted to 1653-67.