I asked Claude if the designs still survived and got the following. I wondered if we can replicate the drydock.
"The National Archives (Kew)
This is the most significant holding. The National Archives holds Admiralty record ADM 195/5, which is a collection of 73 photographs of the Bermuda Dockyard dated 1868–1899, explicitly including the floating dock. (nationalarchives) The National Museum of Bermuda confirms that photographs from the National Archives UK include images of the floating dock under construction at Blackwall Yard in 1868, the dock en route to Bermuda with HMS Terrible astern, and HMS Urgent docked inside it circa 1870–1890. (Nmb) Admiralty construction contracts and engineering correspondence would sit in the ADM series as well — the National Archives holds all Admiralty records from that era."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Admiralty_floating_doc...
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/HMS_Psyc...
https://nmb.bm/history/look-down-look-down/
Were cameras at the time really that good already? Or was it likely restored with some creative license?
"The National Archives (Kew) This is the most significant holding. The National Archives holds Admiralty record ADM 195/5, which is a collection of 73 photographs of the Bermuda Dockyard dated 1868–1899, explicitly including the floating dock. (nationalarchives) The National Museum of Bermuda confirms that photographs from the National Archives UK include images of the floating dock under construction at Blackwall Yard in 1868, the dock en route to Bermuda with HMS Terrible astern, and HMS Urgent docked inside it circa 1870–1890. (Nmb) Admiralty construction contracts and engineering correspondence would sit in the ADM series as well — the National Archives holds all Admiralty records from that era."
Full answer here https://claude.ai/share/2702a011-49f9-4d9b-be38-c2e1afd214b5
The gallery has some images and photos. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Naval_Dockyard,_Bermuda