The Cruise of H.M.S. Galatea

This 1869 publication traces a royal world tour, cut short by an assassination attempt on Prince Alfred while in Australia.

Prince Alfred, Queen Victoria's second son, made the first royal visit to Australia in 1867–8 during a world tour. Published in 1869, this illustrated chronicle includes scenes from a South African elephant hunt and an account of the assassination attempt in Sydney which necessitated an early return to England.In 1867, Prince Alfred, Queen Victoria's second son, commissioned the Galatea for a voyage around the world which would include the first royal visit to Australia. Stopping along the way in Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town, Alfred was received with great ceremony at each port of call. These visits provided the ship's chaplain John Milner (1822–97) and the artist Oswald Brierly (1817–94) with ample material for this chronicle, published in 1869, which gives background details of each region alongside scenes from the tour, enhanced by illustrations based on Brierly's sketches. The authors drew on various recollections and writings, including a letter from Alfred to his brother describing an elephant hunt in South Africa. The tour was abruptly curtailed in Sydney when a Fenian sympathiser attempted to assassinate the prince, an act which boosted support for the British royal family.