In the event he was destined to return to Liverpool. Again it is pure surmise, but it was in 1846 that John Wilson Carmichael (1799-1868) left Newcastle to settle in the metropolis. Some twelve years senior to Walters and probably better known in London, the prospect of such competition may have influenced the younger man. Whatever his motives, the London experience proved a well worthwhile 'sabbatical' and paid dividends on his return to Liverpool.

Apart from short periods of travel in Britain and on the continent, here he remained busily engaged in his rural retreat on the banks of the busy Mersey estuary for over thirty years . Little of maritime significance escaped his brush. Had matters turned out differently, our present detailed knowledge and enjoyment of a vast store of Liverpool's maritime heritage would be much the poorer.

Unfortunately, no diaries, journals, correspondence, working sketch books, ledgers, or the like have been encountered. According to his grandson ' he was always sketching on odd bits of paper, and never threw anything away. At his death three or four sacks full of paper had to be burnt".