A glass photographic negative entitled 'The Ways After the Launch of HMS Cornwallis at Blackwall', taken by Edgar Tarry Adams in July 1901. The photograph shows the slipway used to launch the HMS 'Cornwallis' into the River Thames at Blackwall, London.

A photograph entitled 'The Ways After the Launch of HMS 'Cornwallis' at Blackwall', taken by Edgar Tarry Adams in July 1901.

The photograph shows the slipway used to launch the HMS 'Cornwallis' into the River Thames at Blackwall, London.

In January 1915, after the outbreak of World War One, 'HMS Cornwallis' was sent to the Dardanelles where she became the first British warship to open fire. After being hit with three torpedoes fired from a German U-boat she sank off the coast of Malta in 1917.

Adams' father had encouraged his interest in boats from childhood. He regularly documented the construction and launching of ships.