The Prince of Wales had sailed July 10, 1860 aboard the 91 gun warship H.M.S. Hero from Plymouth on his tour of Canada and the United States. After an crossing that was uneventful but for the loss of a seaman overboard, the Hero, accompanied by H.M.S. Ariadne, made landfall at St. John's, Newfoundland and anchored in the harbor there in the early evening of July 23, 1860. The royal party went ashore at noon the following day. (By John Osborne)