The Diamond and Wasp, Balaklava Harbor

Roger Fenton British

Not on view

Fenton’s view of the Black Sea port of Balaklava, which the British used as a landing point for their siege of Sevastopol during the Crimean War, shows a busy but orderly operation. The British naval ships, HMS Diamond and HMS Wasp, oversaw the management of transports into and out of the harbor, which explains the presence of ships and rowboats, as well as the large stack of crates near the rail track in the foreground. Against claims of "rough-and-tumble" mismanagement of Balaklava in the British press, Fenton (commissioned by a Manchester publisher to record the theater of war) offers documentation of a well-functioning port.

The Diamond and Wasp, Balaklava Harbor, Roger Fenton (British, 1819–1869), Albumen silver print from glass negative

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