Despite the inclusion of the map of the 1871 voyage and the mention of photographs dating from 1873 in one of the letters, it seems likely the photographs in the album date from the first voyage of the Eire, a steamer designed for use as a yacht in arctic seas, built by Stephen & Forbes of Peterhead. The ship's master was Benjamin Leigh Smith, who had previously taken the Sampson on an exploratory voyage in 1871. In the summer of 1880, the Eire reached Franz Josef Land and succeeded in charting most of the previously undiscovered southern coasts and islands. The surgeon on the voyage was Dr. William Henry Neale, a London doctor. He is known to have taken a camera on the subsequent voyage of the Eire in 1881, and it seems likely he was responsible for these earlier photographs. Three of the accompanying letters dated 1880-81 refer to the receipt of photographs, one from the Société de Géographie of Paris stating ...de vous remercier des belles photographies et du journal [...] de voyage du Dr. Neale..