Getty description: The photograph depicts a fleet of French naval ships in the harbor of Cherbourg in Normandy, France. The occasion is the inauguration of the harbor as well as a new railway line linking the town to Paris. Between August 3 and 21, 1858, Emperor Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie visited Brittany and Normandy, anchoring at Cherbourg between August 4 and 8, which is when this photograph was taken.
