2-913-776 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Her Majesty's Despatch Gun-Boats, 1854. Crimean War: Royal Navy ships Lynx, Beagle, Arrow and Viper en route for the Black Sea. 'The boats composed of this little fleet may be looked upon as by far the most perfect and effective class of vessels ever furnished for the purposes for which they are intended. [They] have been built jointly by the eminent firm of Messrs. Green and Messrs. Mare, of Blackwall, and in their construction the builders have most conscientiously carried out the excellent designs furnished by the Admiralty...both in appearance and speed, they have exceeded the fullest anticipations - the Beagle...having attained a speed of upwards of fourteen knots per hour; and the long and effective range of the new Lancaster oval guns with which they are armed has been proved by [the firing of] a shell, weighing 100 lb, [which] was fired a distance of 5000 yards'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.