A large ship being loaded by the side of the water on the left (one can see the boat's number--1587--on the side of the boat). A smaller boat, loaded (apparently with dates) arrives travelling from the right side of the plate.

The etcher Charles William Cain (1893 - 1962) travelled in the Middle East, and lived in Baghdad for some years. A student of Camberwell School of Art, he was then an illustrator and cartoonist for the Johannesburg Star. During the Great War, he served with the Border Regiment in India and Mesopotamia until the Armistice. In 1920-21, he studied at the Royal College of Art under Frank Short.