The training ship 'Fisgard' (?) off the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, in 1877<br><p>This small painting by Claude T. Stanfield Moore (1853-1901) was previously called ' A view of Greenwich in 1877 with the training ship HMS Warspite'. 'Warspite' (a former two-decker reduced to a frigate) was a training ship for the Marine Society from 1862 but, until lost to a fire in 1876, was moored off Woolwich not Greenwich: so was its successor of the same name. It is more likely that the vessel shown is the Leda-class 46-gun frigate 'Fisgard' which from 1848 was the Commodore's guardship at Woolwich but also used to train engineers up to 1862, a function taken over the the Royal Naval College at Greenwich from its inception in 1873. This is one of a number of images of such a ship moored off the College in its early years though details of its use by the College are hard to find. 'Fisgard' was broken up in 1879 but the College had also acquired the flat-iron steam gunboat 'Arrow' and training tender 'Bee' for engineer training in 1875 and - despite its unusual colour scheme- it is just possible the steamer at centre, also moored directly off the Grand Square, is the 'Arrow'. The painting presents a number of other puzzles, since the steps and  river wall on the right fronting Grand Square are not accurate, but it gives a lively view of Victorian Greenwich and its busy river life on the commercial highway into the port of London, bathed in eastern morning light. The wooden platform with safety stanchions round it at lower right, carrying a ticket booth  and a group of playing musicians, including a fiddler and lady harpist, is the floating landing stage of Greenwich Pier. The people also seated there are presumably passengers awaiting a river steamer. The painting is signed on the gunwale of the Thames sailing barge, shown with its mast lowered, at far left.<br></p>
View of Greenwich in 1877 Showing the Training Ship HMS Warspite
<bdi><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Claude_Thomas_Stanfield_Moore" class="extiw" title="w:en:Claude Thomas Stanfield Moore"><span title="Landscape painter from Nottingham (1853-1901)">Claude Thomas Stanfield Moore</span></a>
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1877<div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1877-00-00T00:00:00Z/9</div>
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