serve at sea in that rank. The post carried considerable influence, equivalent in practice to that of other Lords of the Admiralty, in advising upon naval appointments. Goschen said of Tryon, "I had an immensely high opinion not only of his naval knowledge, but of his general savoir faire, rapidity of judgement, decision, extraordinary shrewdness, and great knowledge of men. He was somewhat cynical in his views of human nature but his cynicism was of a good humoured and harmless cast." A story was related of the Admiralty board travelling to Dover to meet the Shah of Persia in 1872. At the railway station it was found they would have to walk some distance through a large crowd. Tryon commented to a friend that he would get one of the admirals to carry his bag for him, which he duly did by asking the admiral to hold his bag while he opened a way through the crowd. Tryon then avoided reclaiming his luggage until they reached their destination. HMS Raleigh Tryon left the Admiralty to take up command of , a new ship under construction. He was attached to the depot ship about a month before, until Raleigh was commissioned on 13 January 1874. Tryon took the opportunity to suggest improvements to her final fitting out. After a cruise of Ireland she was attached to the 'Flying Squadron' commanded by Rear Admiral Sir George Granville Randolph. Raleigh proved to be the fastest of the six ships under steam, but still also the second fastest under sail alone, after Immortalite. The squadron set out on a tour to Gibraltar, then South America where, at the Falkland Islands, officers from the ships hired a schooner to tour around and organised hunting parties across the island. Next they went to South Africa, arriving at the Cape of Good Hope on 6 March 1875. There Raleigh took on board Sir Garnet Wolesley and his staff to transport them to Natal. The remainder of the squadron returned to the Mediterranean, where Raleigh joined them later. At Gibraltar, Randolph was replaced by Rear Admiral Rowley Lambert, and the whole squadron was ordered to go to Bombay, to attend the Prince of Wales who would shortly be making a tour of India. Tryon showed concern for the wellbeing of his men and the better ordering of the Navy. Before Raleigh had left England, thirty men had deserted