The painting may illustrate an episode from the Anglo-Dutch wars. Its condition makes it difficult to ascertain its authorship. The handling and arrangement of the clouds point to a late date, around 1660-70. Jan Kelch attributes it to the circle of Reinier Nooms, known as Zeeman (1623/24-1664). However, Sabine Craft-Giepmans and Marijke van Kinkelder argue that the handling of space and the manner in which the vessels are grouped suggest that it may have been painted by Jacob Feyts de Vries (active in Amsterdam between 1640 and 1660) (Posada Kubissa, T.: Pintura holandesa en el Museo Nacional del Prado. Catálogo razonado, 2009, p. 322).