'Steamboat waiting for the commander-in-chief'

Photograph of the shoreline at Southsea with the sea to the left of the picture. In the background is a steam boat that awaits the boarding of Sir Charles Napier with its flags aloft. In the foreground stands a bathing machine on wheels in the sea with figures to the right. This photograph is part of a set made by Fenton at the time of the departure of the fleet for the Crimea, under the command of Admiral Sir Charles Napier. The Royal Family, on board the Fairy, watched the sight with interest. Fenton's set of eight pictures of the Fleet at Spithead represent an early attempt to record several stages of a particular occasion. Six of these prints were exhibited by the Photographic Society in 1855.