3-017-226 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The International Naval Festival at Portsmouth: ball at the Royal Naval College, 1865. 'The spacious tent in which...[the ball] was held - occupying...the whole quadrangle in the rear of the college - had...been still further decorated. The lighting of the interior was executed by Messrs. Thomas Tucker and Sons...On each side of the ball-room, which was made dazzlingly bright by the light of twenty-five crystal lustres from the roof, besides eighty wall candelabra, and twelve placed in vases of flowers on the floor, were alcoves with seats, in which the ladies, when fatigued with the dance, rested themselves until tempted to rush into its whirl again...Two bands - those of the Royal Marine Light Infantry and the Royal Marine Artillery - stationed in recesses on the other side of the room, played very efficiently the music to which the dancing took place...The company numbered about 2000 ladies and gentlemen, and the great majority of the latter wore naval or military uniforms, while the ladies, of course, were very richly and gaily dressed. They presented, while dancing, a splendid as well as a lively and animated sight'. From "Illustrated London News", 1865.