Although the Royal Fleet Auxiliary was not officially so-named until 1905, it had long been recognised that warships were too valuable to be used simply to supply the outposts of Empire with men, stores and the materials of war. Thus, the nineteenth century - particularly after about 1860 - saw the birth of various iron support vessels amongst which were storeships such as H.M.S Tyne depicted above. Tyne, originally launched as Mariotis on 19 January 1878, was built by Armstrong's at their Elswick yard on the River Tyne and, presumably because of this, was renamed Tyne when she was purchased for the Royal Navy when completed on 8 March the same year. Displacing 3,560 tons, she measured 320 feet in length with a 34 foot beam, and prior to entering service was armed with 2-24 pounder guns by way of a nominal armament. Although probably put to work immediately, her first active service was during the campaign in Egypt and the Sudan in 1884-85 when she not only carried troops as well as stores, but also provided men from her crew to serve on the naval brigade which fought its way up the Nile, initially to relieve and then to avenge the death of General Gordon at Khartoum.

Still in service in 1914, by which date her armament had been changed to 1-12 pdr. and 2-6 pdrs., she was last in action at Archangel in 1918 when she helped carry the Allied Expeditionary Force which captured the city on 1 August. By then outdated however, she was one of many vessels offered for sale when the fleet was rationalised after the Great War but before a buyer could be found, she sank off Sheerness during a heavy gale on 15 November 1920.

It is likely that this picture was executed when Tyne was laid-up in Malta in 1885 awaiting the demobilisation of her crew from the Sudanese naval brigade.