The Strait of Magellan connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean just north of Cape Horn, which is the southernmost tip of the continent of South America. This map image is from Hammond's Unabridged Atlas and Gazeteer of the World, published by C. S. Hammond & Co., Inc., New York, 1924, page 121. (Collections of Penobscot Marine Museum)
The Bark Henrietta was built in 1847. Captain William McGilvery of Searsport sailed her to Ireland during the Irish potato famine, bringing a cargo of food. There is also a ship Henrietta, built in Bucksville, South Carolina, in 1875 by a crew of Searsport shipbuilders.
The flag of the Confederacy, from Flags of the World Past and Present: Their Story and Associations. Published by Frederick Warne & Co., Inc., in New York, 1939. Plate L163.
A view of a breeches buoy from The U. S. Life-Saving Service: Heroes, Rescues, and Architecture of the Early Coast Guard by Ralph Shanks, Wick York and Lisa Woo Shanks (eds.), published by Costano Books, Petaluma, California, 1996. A breeches buoy is a rescue device.
Written on the back of the painting's original backing: "The Kentucky was built in 1833 for Captain Benjamin Carver and was sailed by him for 10 to 12 years. She then went into the slave business, carrying slaves from Africa to Rio de Janeiro." According to Searsport Sea Captains by Frederick Black, the Kentucky was one of the fastest of her type in the world.
The Bark Willard Mudgett was built in 1874 in Stockton Springs, Maine. She sank in 1904 while under the command of Captain Frederick Blanchard. Captain Blanchard's father, Captain William H. Blanchard, was aboard. There were no survivors. This is a copy photograph.
