From the late 1940s Murray Tod suffered from muscular dystrophy which affected his ability to make etchings and engravings. Instead he began making very detailed pen drawings: this work, dating from 1948, is one of the earliest of this type. It is an invented harbour, but is probably based on landscapes around Dalbeattie, in Galloway, where Tod lived at the time. Tod worked from sketchbooks filled with drawings of the landscapes and houses he encountered. He would use these as a resource from which to compile his fantastical scenes. Therefore, certain features often recur - here the outcrop of land in the distance resembles Balcary Bay in Dumfries and Galloway and is identifiable in numerous works.