A view from above of the working activity of a dry dock. The ship and surrounding area teem with people working. The left of the image is dominated by the hull of a large ship which is shored up by large beams that stretch across the foreground of the image. The steamer at centre is identified on her stern as “Calston, London.” Below a large smoke stack at the upper centre a sign reads “Docking Painting and Repainting. R. Napier & Sons, Shipbuilders & Engineers.” The scene may represent the East Yard/New Yard of the Govan Dry Docks in Glasgow, where Robert Napier and Sons built during their final year of solvency in 1899. The Govan Dry Docks were built between 1869 and 1898. Etching finished with drypoint. Signed by artist.

Born in Glasgow, Muirhead Bone (1876-1953) was a prominent London based printmaker and an official war artist in both the First and Second World Wars. Bone began practicing printmaking in the 1890s and moved to London in 1901.