1-150-697 - The Cartoon Collector/Heritage-Images

The Ugly Duckling, 1873. Britannia and Neptune watch one of the new iron-clad ships 'Devastation' leave port. Such ships were armed with giant guns. The First Lord of the Admiralty, George Goschen, had overspent on the 12 ships by some £235,000 over his initial budget of £2 million. Mr Punch was not concerned for, as he said, the ships were so strong that the rest of the world, together, could not produce a force to fight Britain. From Punch, or the London Charivari, May 3, 1873.