This painting was likely commissioned as part of a series by the stevedoring company Scruttons Ltd. to commemorate the building of the Clyde Anchorages Emergency Port in 1940. Once air raids began in September 1940, the Port of London was partially removed to the Clyde Estuary on the west coast of Scotland. It served a central function in the war effort, enabling convoys of large vessels to safely deliver their cargo. An anti-submarine boom stretched across the Firth to protect the port. It ceased operation at the end of the war and numerous articles in newspapers acknowledged its significance to Allied victory. The Dundee Courier wrote on 9 October 1945 that ‘Its existence helped to defeat the German plan to starve Britain into surrender’ and that the work carried out there during the war included ‘1885 ships discharged and loaded, 2,056,833 tons of cargo and 6,032,872 packages – military equipment, stores, mails, &c.’. The Aberdeen Press and Journal wrote on 20 August 1945:

‘At peak periods, such as the North Africa landings and D-Day, the port sheltered, serviced and loaded hundreds of ships at a time. At one period alone it was possible to count no fewer than 150 Liberty ships at anchor. Mighty convoys assembled and dispersed, and here too came the world’s largest liners. In all its long history the Clyde has never rendered greater service to the Empire. Under the shelter of the Argyllshire and Dumbartonshire hills this anchorage proved to be one of the safest in the world. Despite the heavy bombing of Clydeside, not a single ship in these waters was ever hit by a German bomber’.