Timber Wharf, Liverpool

This etching shows a timber yard in an unknown Liverpool dock. Canada, Canning, Queens and Brunswick Docks were all built for the timber trade to support nearby shipbuilding, and this timber yard possibly served one of them. The central yard is walled in by stacks of timber on the left and sheds on the right. The two figures on the elevated footbridge are operating a hand-powered travelling crane, which was used to lift wood from the wagons below. Part of another wagon in the right foreground completes this inverted triangular composition, effectively channelling the viewer’s vision towards the central warehouse.