Royal Navy ships of the Duke of Wellington class lying at anchor at Spithead, with one firing a salute to acknowledge the departure of an Admiral on board the ironclad, thought to be H.M.S. Sultan

The four ships of the Duke of Wellington class, the name ship, H.M.S. Marlborough, H.M.S. Prince of Wales and H.M.S. Royal Sovereign, were sailing line-of-battle ships, all magnificent sailers and capable of 10 knots under steam-power, they were the epitome of their type, but also the last. None saw active service much about 1860. Here one of them fires a salute to an Admiral embarked in one of a new generation of ships, probably intended to represent the ironclad H.M.S. Sultan, laid down in 1868. The salute between the generations is therefore symbolic. The ship in the far distance is H.M.S. Achilles, the only ever four-masted ship in the Royal Navy. Commissioned in Chatham in 1863, she underwent many modifications during her lifetime the first in 1868, which helps to date this painting.