H.M.S. Princess Royal under tow by the paddle frigate Leopard off Corfu

In a framed photocopied letter accompanying this lot, E.H.H. Archibald states that the large three-decker shown here is likely to be H.M.S. Prince Consort. However, since Prince Consort was an ironclad frigate, he is probably confusing her with H.M.S. Princess Royal whose name, prior to launching, had been Prince Albert. Completed in 1853, she was flagship to Admiral Sir Charles Napier in the Baltic in 1854 and also served with distinction in the Black Sea during the Crimean War. It was in this same conflict that the use of paddle frigates to tow the much larger ships-of-the-line in and out of action and elsewhere became widespread and this work presumably depicts such an incident.