The Squadron of Evolution in a Gale of Wind from the Eastward off the Coast of Portugal 24th Jany 1849

A tinted lithograph of a fleet of ships that were part of the Experimental Squadron. The closest ship, the 'St. Vincent,' is heading towards the left of the print and is angled in a three-quarter port-side and stern view. Water laps onto the broadside of the ship. The 'Stromboli,' 'Plumper,' 'Prince Regent,' 'Powerful,' 'Re(y)ard,' and the 'Orestes' are in the far horizon and their names are labeled below. The Squadron was led by Rear Admiral, Sir C. Napier, who was instructed to exercise the ships during the voyage to Lisbon and then to detach the ships to their various stations in Malta, the Cape of Good Hope, and back to England. The Experimental Squadron was a group of ships that was sent out in the 1830s and 1840s to test new techniques of ship design, armament, building and propulsion.

See "Correspondence from the Principal Ports and Stations," The United Service Magazine 59, Part 1 (1849): 133.