This scene may be connected with Nelson's bombardment of Cadiz during the night of 3 July 1797. The number and sizes of the vessels depicted are broadly similar to those actually present for the attack and it is recorded that the flotilla took its station "near the tower of San-Sebastian (sic) and within 2,500 yards of the walls of the town'. Boat crews were also involved and the large warship in the foreground could be Nelson's flagship H.M.S. Theseus, 74-guns.