This print (wood engraving) shows a view of a French steamer docking at a coaling station at New Harbour. With a deep-water harbour protected by small islands, Singapore had been an ideal port of call for inter-oceanic trading vessels that traversed the South China Sea, the Strait of Malacca, or the Sunda Strait. The New Harbour (renamed Keppel Harbour in 1900) was built to relieve the increasing pressure on the Singapore River for docking services.
