This is a synopsis of the text that accompanies the print in the portfolio (authorship attributed to S.R. Koehler): The author describes how the inner harbor of Gloucester is frequented only by fishing and industry vessels. The lowliness of the subject matter thus places Parrish in an artistic lineage that descends from Millet through William Morris Hunt (who was the first artist to depict Gloucester Harbor). This etching was originally published by Cassell & Co. in the 1883 portfolio "Original Etchings by American Artists." The twenty prints from this portfolio and from the 1884 "Twenty Original American Etchings," also by Cassell & Co., were combined to create "Gems of American Etchers" in 1885.