Editorial Comment for this plate:

THE GREAT NAVAL PARADE.

FULFILLING our promise of a few weeks ago, we show our readers, this week, one of the best pictures made during the recent celebration in this city. The negative was made by Mr. Alfred L. Simpson, author of the excellent Group of Elephants, which attracted so much favorable attention in these columns not long ago. Mr. Simpson used a Cramer plate in this instance, with a Prosch shutter, and developed with a pyro and potash developer known as the “Hoover ” developer. The exposure was made from the steamer “Philadelphia” (which was chartered by the Society of Amateur Photographers of New York), on the day of the great naval parade, Monday, April 29th. It shows the majestic flagship “Brooklyn” in the foreground, with the other men-of-war and various excursion boats in the distance. (p. 265)

USS Brooklyn –  1858

USS Brooklyn was a sloop-of-war authorized by the U.S. Congress and commissioned in 1859. Brooklyn was active in Caribbean operations until the start of the American Civil War at which time she became an active participant in the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America.  ⎯Wikipedia