1856. He remained captain of the battery until 3 May 1856 and commanded her during the 23 April 1856 Fleet Review, where Glatton was one of four floating batteries that were the first ironclad ships to appear at any fleet review. HMS Emerald Cumming was appointed captain of the 51-gun frigate HMS Emerald on her commissioning at Sheerness on 14 May 1859 and remained with the ship until the end of her Royal Navy career on 7 November 1863. The vessel was initially part of the Channel Fleet and as part of her duties visited Plymouth, Spithead, Torbay, Cork and Devonport. Cumming was reunited with his old commander, Rear-Admiral Sir Alexander Milne, when Emerald became his temporary flagship on 19 January 1860 in order to carry him to the West Indies where he was to replace Vice Admiral Sir Houston Stewart, another former shipmate, as Commander-in-Chief on the North America and West Indies Station. Emerald left Devonport on 18 February and arrived at Bermuda 19 days and 6 hours later, completing "one of the quickest passages on record" at the time. The feat is all the more impressive for the fact that Cumming relied almost entirely on sail power, engaging the steam engines only when he was within of her destination. Whilst in Bermuda Emerald ran aground and tore her coppering, the first of several times she was damaged in her career. Cumming and Emerald returned to Plymouth on 4 July 1860 and was heading to Keyham steam-yard on 10 July when she ran aground on a beach at Hamoaze whilst trying to avoid a merchant brig under tow, this and the Bermuda grounding were found to have damaged of her coppering. Cumming was next ordered to Alderney, in the Channel Islands to transport a replacement Royal Artillery garrison. On the return journey on 28 August the ship ran aground once more, whilst in the charge of a Trinity House pilot, necessitating more repairs. In September Cumming sailed to Antwerp to provide a British presence and salute to Queen Victoria who was passing through the port. Cumming made another trip to South America in April 1861 when he carried Rear-Admiral Richard Laird Warren in Emerald to his new appointment as Commander-in-Chief of the Brazil Station, returning with Rear-Admiral Sir Henry Keppel. On his return Cumming was again ordered to America, transporting guns, shot and stores to the West India Squadron,