This hand-coloured lithograph shows the embarkation of the 4th Regiment on board the merchant steamship Golden Fleece (1854) at Leith Roads, bound for Constantinople, 8th March 1854. It is inscribed to Lieutenant E.W. Pitt, RN, who oversaw the embarkation. The ship was designed for service to Australia, but at the outbreak of the Crimean War she was chartered by the British Government as a transport ship (H. Parker and F.C. Bowen, ‘Mail and Passenger Steamships of the XIXth Century’, London, 1928, p. 226). The ship is shown at anchor, her sails furled and steam drifting aft from her funnels. In the foreground a small paddle steamer crowded with soldiers makes its way out to her. Figures can be seen embarking from another paddle steamer moored alongside her. A variety of smaller vessels add interest to the scene. The choppy sea is brightly lit around the outgoing paddle steamer. A piece of driftwood floats in the sea, lower right.