According to Geoffrey M. Footner, "Yachting did not come to the Chesapeake Bay until after the Civil War. The members of a new Baltimore Yacht Club had the schooner Rena built in 1880 and this painting may have been commissioned to celebrate the occassion. Based on reasearch records of sailing yachts owned in Baltimore in 1880, these may be (from left to right), the sloop Blue Wing, Rena, and Clytie.

Painted circa 1880, the yachts are seen from near Fort McHenry racing southeast towards the waters of Chesapeake Bay. The circular fortification is Fort Caroll, built under the supervision of Robert E. Lee during the 1840s.