3-017-202 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The International Naval Festival at Portsmouth: meeting of the Reine Hortense and the Osborne, 1865. 'There are few places in which a naval spectacle can be seen to greater advantage than the broad expanse of water separating the Isle of Wight from the mainland, in which this splendid squadron lay moored. It was here that the nine most powerful ironclads in the navy of France, accompanied by four frigates, steamed slowly in and each dropped her anchor opposite to one of her English sisters. As soon as the Solferino had anchored, the [royal yacht] Osborne and the Reine Hortense stood towards each other and, meeting midway between the two fleets, dipped their flags in salutation'. From "Illustrated London News", 1865.