The Dreadnought being towed up the Thames at Greenwich by a paddle tug RMG PY3251

The Dreadnought being towed up the Thames at Greenwich by a paddle tug
A huge crowd of people along the front of the Royal Naval College are watching the 'Dreadnought' under tow up river. The buildings are impressively monumental as the backdrop (although the King Charles Court on the right seems curiously detached). The picture is, however, a bit of a puzzle given the date of 1883 inscribed on it. The subject must be the second 'Dreadnought' hospital ship of the (merchant) Seamen's Hospital Society, which was built as the 120-gun 'Caledonia' at Plymouth in 1808, to the design of Sir Robert Seppings. She took over from the original 'Dreadnought' on moorings off Greenwich in 1856, and is shown for example in Parrott's lithograph, PAH3271, where her distinctive lion figurehead is also visible.
In 1870 the Hospital moved ashore into the former Greenwich Hospital infirmary built by Stuart in 1764-68 (see PAH4062), of which the corner appears to be visible here on the right behind the brig and Thames barge, and in 1875 the 'Dreadnought' (ex-'Caledonia') was broken up. This therefore may be a recollection of her arrival at Greenwich in 1856, long after the event. It may be for a lithograph, since examples bearing the same A. Grieve signature are known. (For the first 'Dreadnought' see PAJ2839. She was a 98-gun ship of that name, allocated by the Navy to replace the 'Grampus', the first SHS ship off Greenwich, in 1827 and broken up in 1857.) The drawing is signed and dated by the artist, lower left, on the raft of timber.

The Dreadnought being towed up the Thames at Greenwich by a paddle tug