This work is one of thirty-three drawings by Samuel Scott acquired for the Museum as part of the Macpherson Collection by Sir James Caird in 1932. They probably date from the 1720s and 1730s when the influence of Van de Velde the Younger is very noticeable in Scott's work. At least one of the drawings is a preliminary drawing for a known work. A number of the drawings, such as this one, are drawn in chalk on blue paper, while others are drawn in pen and ink, graphite, and wash on various coloured papers.