A Chinese painting of the ship S.F. Hersey, a 991 ton, 169 foot long ship- rigged vessel built in Searsport in 1865. Marlboro Packard was the master builder. She was Searsport owned until she went under Australian registery in 1888. This painting's donor, Mrs. Henrietta Carver, was born on the vessel in 1885 in the straits of Mindoro, taking her middle name from the straits; her father, Captain Franklin Garey died on board the vessel in that passage. The donor's mother, Henrietta Packard, was the daughter of the vessel's builder. The S.F.
This painting of the ship Elizabeth is attributed to Marie Edouard Adam, c.1883. It was mostly Searsport sea captain capital that financed Elizabeth, built in Newcastle, Maine, by Haggett & Co., and named for the wife of her first master, Phineas Pendleton III. Launched in October, 1882, she went ashore nine years later at Rocky Point, San Francisco. Elizabeth’s wreck is a story of loss for four Searsport families. Her master, Captain John Herbert Colcord, was travelling with his wife and two children, who were saved, although he died.
This 1776 painting by William Hodges is from The Great Age of Sail: Maritime Art and Photography. New York: Facts on File Publications, 1986. (Collections of Penobscot Marine Museum)
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 ship Henrietta was built at Bucksville, South Carolina, in 1875. There was also a bark Henrietta, built in 1847, which Captain William McGilvery used to carry food to Ireland during the potato famine.
The ship Forest Eagle, 1156 tons, was built in Rockland, Maine, in 1856 by Starrett & Kimball. In 1861, under the command of Capt. Thomas Pillsbury, she carried 500 Indentured Chinese laborers from Macao to Havana, Cuba, to work in the sugar fields there. Shortly after this voyage, President Lincoln forbade American ships from participating in the "coolie trade." The Forest Eagle was reported lost at sea in March of 1881. This image is from a painting owned by the Rockland Public Library.
Painting of two lobster fishermen in a dory, with sails set. The dory is sloop- rigged with a sprit mainsail, a typical inshore fishing dory of Maine and Massachsetts. The boat may have encountered a storm, tearing the sails, but the torn sail is more likely artistic license, or just an old one on its last legs. Both fishermen are wearing oilskin trousers to stay dry while hauling traps. There is a lobster pot in the boat and a small anchor in the bow.
The artist does not show up in any of the regular sources so may have been a talented amateur.
Oil on canvas, signed C.J. Waldron, 1873. The Moonbeam was built in Searsport in 1859 by William McGilvery. Amos Dow was master from 1859 to 1867. Her rig was changed to schooner in1891; she foundered off Point Judith in 1905.
