The shipyard which appears on most of the early postcards is Harvey's, run by the family from 1848 until 1916, although the name was retained by the yard for a while afterwards.

Several full rigged ships were built in the early years, but it was ketch barges that eventually gained its reputation. Repairs to existing sailing vessels were also a large part of the business, and these included craft built by other shipyards. Wood was the main raw material for the hulls and most were sailing vessels, although the steam powered screw driven ship Prince Eddie, was built in 1904, and is seen here at the bottom of the slipway.

Despite being rather faded, this postcard is full of interest. The publisher is not known, but a comment on the back reads "Employees of Mr. Harvey's Shipyard. Taken September 1905 by Mr. Walker".

The photograph also appears in Vol.1 of the two volume Merchant Schooners by Basil Greenhill, published in 1957, and is attributed to the H. Oliver Hill collection. Several pages of the work are given to describing the shipyard and its output.

John Harvey appears bowler-hatted in the centre of the picture, surrounded by shipwrights, carpenters, sawyers, labourers and apprentices. Some resemblances in facial features suggest that multiple family members may have been involved and I would be pleased to hear, via the contact page, from anyone who can identify any of the individuals.

In the background is the partially completed hull of a barge ketch. Note the wooden trenails used to fix the planking.