Ships at dock, Deauville

People remember Deauville as a resort, but in 1881 it also had a working port. Behind the beach, on the River Touques, lay a floating basin 300 metres long, opened in 1866 for trade. English ships brought in coal there, and Norwegian ships brought timber for the sawmills on the strip of land between the basin and the river. This is the commercial side of the town, heavy square-rigged ships tied up along the quay under a grey sky, and not a parasol in sight. Boudin signed it at the lower left with the year, 81. It was still in his hands 13 years later, when in June 1894 he sold it to a gilder named Duval, a craftsman who made and gilded picture frames.