Two English engineers, John Upton and his son, worked in Sevastopol for many years designing and improving the harbour and water supply. The dry docks were completed just before the war began. This photograph, taken by Robertson just after the fall of the city, shows the docks damaged but intact. In the spring of 1856 French and British troops destroyed the docks to prevent the Russians quickly re-establishing Sevastopol as a military base.

From the collection of the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII