'Calypso' - a sixth-rate 20-gun sloop of 1845 - is shown bow on, with the volcanic scenery of Bora Bora (Society Islands) beyond. 'Calypso' was in the Pacific from 1858 to 1861 under Captain Frederick Byng Montresor, who recorded this visit of 1861 in his memoir, 'Leaves from Memory’s Log Book...' (ed. C.A. Montresor, 1887), pp. 333-41. The circumstances were that the King of Bora Bora, Tapoa II, had just died and his stepdaughter assumed the throne as Teriimaevarua II. She was only 19, and although the daughter of the Queen of Tahiti, other factions in Bora Bora aimed to unseat her. The official British Resident on the island supported her and was alarmed by the strife likely to ensue. There was also some delay in the King's funeral since local custom required him to be buried in the carved-out trunk of a single tree and there was difficulty in finding one large enough: Tapoa had died weighing almost 400 lbs. At this point 'Calypso' arrived and the Resident prevailed on Montresor to arbitrate and make it clear that the 'Great Queen' (Victoria) was concerned to see that the young successor was accepted.

This resulted in a meeting of the chiefs, the new Queen and her mother on board 'Calypso'. After impressing everyone with a firing of the guns Montresor reminded the gathering of their duty to support the new Queen and stay united if they were to remain independent of foreign interference. He then withdrew and, after private deliberation, the chiefs confirmed (through a Maltese interpreter) that they would support the new Queen. This put 'Calypso's' schedule back a day and she sailed at about 9.30 a.m. on 5 June 1861, as apparently shown in this print. The Queen retained her throne and eventually visited London, where there was much remark on her blue-coloured skin. This derived from the bromine she had been advised to take as medication for the epilepsy from which she suffered: she died aged only 32. Montresor retired as an admiral in 1866, the year 'Calyspo' was sold for breaking up by Castle & Beech' at Charlton, on the Thames.