This image depicts the Royal Dockyard at Deptford in 1739, during the reign of George II. Deptford was the site of one of four royal dockyards established during the reign of the House of Tudor, the others being Portsmouth, Chatham, and Woolwich.
Collectively they helped create the first ships of the Royal Navy, after Henry VII realised that it was no longer safe for the nation to depend on privateers and traders to protect England's shores. Deptford yard probably grew around a storehouse hired at Greenwich, possibly at Deptford Strand, then called West Greenwich, in 1486.
The Collection includes many fine engravings and drawings, including some first impressions. These 'first impressions' are of extremely fine quality since the engraved lines on the copperplate, from which the engraving was pressed, were sharp. With each subsequent pressing the lines would become gradually less distinct and the value of the finished engraving subsequently lower.
Many engravings in the collection are finished by the application of watercolours; all the eighteenth and nineteenth century examples, both coloured and monochrome, are extremely sensitive to light and must be displayed in carefully-controlled locations under special UV-resistant light.