1865 c. L. Lebreton - Steam Frigate Ship - Folio stone lithograph - Hand colour - Maritime

Steam frigates, also known as screw frigates and the smaller steam corvettes, steam sloops and steam schooners, were steam-powered warships that were not meant to stand in the line of battle. The first such ships were paddle steamers. Later on the invention of screw propulsion enabled construction of steam-powered versions of the traditional frigates, corvettes, and sloops.

‘Fregatte cuirassee Anglaise' [Achille]

HMS Achilles was an armoured frigate built for the Royal Navy in the 1860s. Upon her completion in 1864 she was assigned to the Channel Fleet. The ship was paid off in 1868 to refit and be re-armed. When she recommissioned in 1869, she was assigned as the guard ship of the Fleet Reserve in the Portland District until 1874. Achilles was refitted and re-armed again in 1874 and became the guard ship of the Liverpool District in 1875. Two years later, she was rejoined the Channel Fleet before going to the Mediterranean in 1878. The ship returned to the Channel Fleet in 1880 and served until she was paid off in 1885.

Louis Le Breton

Stone lithograph 30 x 23 cm

Published by Monrocq. in Paris ca 1865

This example in ORIGINAL HAND COLOUR. Not held by the Royal Museums Greenwich.

Louis Le Breton (1818 in Douarnenez – 1866) was a French painter who specialised in marine paintings.

Le Breton studied medicine and took part in Dumont d'Urville's second voyage aboard the Astrolabe. After the official illustrator of the expedition died, Le Breton replaced him. From 1847 he devoted himself mainly to depicting marine subjects for the French Navy.