This photograph is part of a set made by Fenton at the time of the departure of the fleet for the Crimea, under the command of Admiral Sir Charles Napier. The Royal Family, on board the Fairy, watched the sight with interest. Fenton's set of eight pictures of the Fleet at Spithead represent an early attempt to record several stages of a particular occasion. Six of these prints were exhibited by the Photographic Society in 1855.