2-982-082 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The King and Queen of Portugal going on board the Serapis in their State Barge, from a sketch by our special artist, 1876. The future King Edward VII entertains King Luís I and Queen Maria on board the Royal Navy warship HMS 'Serapis'. View of '...the Prince meeting their Majesties on the ladder. This barge was built so long ago as 1684. On the bow and stern and the deckhouse there are rich carvings, gilt, on a blue ground. She is 110 ft. long, and pulls forty oars, twenty on each side. There are two men to each oar, making a crew of eighty. They are dressed in red jackets over a sailor's shirt, with an odd-shaped red velvet cap, having a large silver plate on the high front. The standard is held up by an officer just in front of the deckhouse'. From "Illustrated London News", 1876.