This picture isn’t photoshopped. The ship is actually over the horizon, and light-bending atmospheric conditions made it visible. Read story here. This would’ve been useful to naval commanders before radar was invented if they could’ve figured out how to turn it on.
It has been observed by ancient navies. The problem is figuring out the distance. Depending on the height of the ship and the height of the observer. The horizon could be 11k to 70 plus kilometers away. And the ship is somewhere over the horizon. Until the age of steam and dreadnaughts commanders could not exploit this. If a Spanish Galleon was in northern waters it may give a pirate an idea of a direction to go.
The phenomenon is usually short lived, though weird things can be observed before and during sunrise and sunset.