An English Fourth Rate ship-of-the-line, thought to be the 46-gun H.M.S. Mordaunt, announcing her departure from the fleet anchorage

After having lain unidentified for decades this painting has been shown to various academics in the last thirty years, most notably Michael Robinson, author of the catalogue raisonné, The Paintings of the Willem van de Veldes, who identified the picture as being by Willem van de Velde, the Elder, with the assistance of his studio, which included the British marine artist Isaac Sailmaker. Robinson noted the similarities between this work and the paintings by van de Velde I of the Tiger in Berkeley Castle, which were executed around 1681.

It has been suggested that this painting depicts H.M.S. Mordaunt of which there are two known compositions by van de Velde, the Elder. Originally built as a privateer for Lord Mordaunt and launched at Deptford in 1681, H.M.S. Mordaunt was a 46-gun Fourth Rate ship-of- -the-line bought into the Royal Navy in 1683. After seeing some action, as part of a fleet that fought an engagement with twelve French warships on 4th October 1689, under the command of Captain John Tyrrell, H.M.S. Mordaunt was wrecked on the Coloradoes Shoals, twenty miles off the north coast of Cuba, on 22nd November 1693, whilst escorting homeward-bound merchant vessels from Jamaica.