Warping up the Avon heading for Bristol

Although fully six miles from the open sea, the port of Bristol was the busiest in the west of England for several centuries. Whilst the haven of the inland docks offered remarkable security however, the skills required to navigate the twisting Avon Gorge to reach them meant that Bristol-based ships acquired a well-deserved reputation for their smartness and efficiency, hence the saying 'shipshape and Bristol fashion'.

This splendid picture by Joseph Walter, undoubtedly complementing several of his works depicting the mouth of the Avon and the Bristol Channel, shows the back-breaking task of towing a vessel upstream when she dare not set too much sail because of the contrary and hostile nature of the gorge ahead.