2-969-998 - /Heritage Images

The Gun-Boat Flotilla off Portland - sketched by Lieutenant Montagu O'Reilly, 1856. '...the Squadron...from a Sketch...by Lieutenant Montagu O'Reilly, now in command of H.M. gun-boat Seagull...the vessels, under steam alone, formed in two lines, and followed in the wake of the Colossus, but the two-decker soon showed her superiority in speed, and the little fleet received orders to spread as much canvas as would enable them to keep their positions with her...Our readers may consider these little craft as the light cavalry of the navy...The fleet consisted of the following vessels: Red or Starboard Division' Charger, Dove, Beaver, Bitr, Whiting, Bustard, Mayflower, Grasshopper, Pincher, Goshawk; and the White or Port Division of the Seagull, Thistle Sandfly, Julia, Pelter, Herring, Bullfrog, Plover, Ruby...accompanied by the Admiralty yacht Black Eagle and the dispatch gunboat Wanderer'. From "Illustrated London News", 1856.