Lifeboats being towed to the start of a race, International Columbian Naval Rendezvous, Newport News, Virginia, April 1893.

Source of the photograph: Detroit Publishing Company Collection, Library of Congress, http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/det1994010304/PP/. Photoshopped.

Historical background: Office of Naval Intelligence, Navy Department, The International Columbian Naval Rendezvous and Review of 1893 and Naval Manœuvres of 1892. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1893.