James Edward Buttersworth

American Steam Schooner Meets British Frigates Crossing the English Channel

Circa 1835

This attractive portrait features the five-masted schooner ELINOR H. at full sail in an active sea. The ship has crisp lines and a sharp sense of detail, likely because it was painte...

With a great view of the city of Naples off her bow and Mount Vesuvius off her stern there's no doubt where this Baltimore Clipper Brig is located. This very well executed portrait has great detail of the port and ship with great coloration throughout and great reflections of the ship on the water. The ship is shown in full sail with flags flying. The ship was owned and Captained by Griffith Jones, a Welshman born 1831. Port Madoc refers to the Welsh City of Porthmadog- it was spelled Portmadoc before 1974. Her sloped bow and stern along with her size are typical of a Baltimore Clipper but her masts are not as raked as often seen in ships of this design and she is square rigged, though there are historical paintings and drawings of other Baltimore Clippers built in this way. Most of what we know about the Brig EPHRATAH is due to the famous wreck of her sister ship FROLIC, though FROLIC was built much earlier. FROLIC is considered the most important wreck on the West Coast of the United States. Dr. Tom Layton of Stanford University connected the two ships in his research on FROLIC.  EPHRATAH was slightly larger than FROLIC at 230 tons, 152’ with a breadth of 22’. She was built in 1873 for Griffith Jones & Co. who would also sail as her master. Jones was Welsh by birth, born in 1831 in Llannor.  FROLIC was built in Baltimore's Gardner Brothers shipyard for the Opium Trade. When steamers came along in the late 1850's it was perfect timing for FROLIC to switch to the busy California trade, fueled by the new California Gold Rush. FROLIC was carrying a rich cargo when she was shipwrecked off Point Cabrillo, California in 1850. When it was discovered in the 1980's the wreck...

An interesting homage to the issue of rank amongst the crews and officers of all vessels, a captain is carried to his ready command by one of his subordinates through the ocean surf ...

Thomas Birch is considered one of the earliest American Marine painters of importance both in his own time and historically, forming the foundation of what would become a great American Maritime movement in the successive years of the 19th century. Born in England, Birch started as a landscape painter but after the War of 1812 he turned to marine subjects, taking inspiration from the best of both English and Dutch maritime traditions but refining these techniques into a very recognizable style all his own. The work featured here is a classic of Birch's later period, when he focused specifically on maritime subjects, mainly the busy waterways of Philadelphia Harbor. Here we see one of those scenes- a series of ships plying their trade, all framed by the city as it sits across the Delaware River, with the tall, white spire of what is either Independence Hall or Christ Church to the left of the main vessel. The details of the city are particularly good in this painting, with the wharf building to the left and the long line of buildings all along the shore. The American Merchant Bark at the center of this painting is rendered in excellent detail, from her house flag and pennant, to her rigging and sails, and down to her deck filled with the activity of crewmembers readying the ship to head out, her gilt billet...