A scene of Cork harbour with the town seen on the coast in the background, the Royal Yacht 'Victoria and Albert' is at anchor in the centre with the Royal standard, among other flags, flying. The Queen, with Prince Albert and their four eldest children, had left Osborne on the 'Victoria and Albert' on 1 August. She entered Cork Harbour in the twilight of 2 August. At 8am on the morning of 3 August, which was 'grey & excessively muggy which is characteristic of the Irish climate', she was saluted by the 'Ganges' and the 'Hague'. In the afternoon the Queen, with members of her suite embarked in the 'Fairy' and sailed round the harbour. She stepped ashore in Queenstown, so called because it was the first place she had set foot on Irish soil. 
 Atkinson was born in Queenstown, Co. Cork.  Having apprenticed as a ship's carpenter, he became Governor Surveyor of Shipping and Emigrants at Queenstown, and was a keen amateur marine painter. He began exhibiting his paintings in 1842, at the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin.  This painting was published as a lithograph, by W. Scraggs of Cork, in 1849.