Oddly enough, there never was a British sailing ship, H.M.S. Defiant in real life. Nevertheless, the starship's name would seem to imply that the Royal Navy did have a Defiant, at least in the Star Trek universe. These faux paintings were done by Mike Okuda at the request of episode writer Mike Sussman, who wanted the sailing ship, and production designer Herman Zimmerman, who thought it would be cool to add the starship.