More Marine Painting

I am humbled by the fact that my blog derives as many hits from browsers looking for maritime images  as from my own efforts. Truly pictures speak a thousand words.

The late John Gardner was an inspirational fellow seaman, drinking companion, loyal and generous friend and not least one of the finest maritime artists of the last century. I publish his work with the consent of his family, as they are happy for John to be remembered and his work shared, just as he himself enjoyed it being shared through his calendars. Having said all this it’s always nice to be asked, rather than have permission taken for granted and I think it would be appropriate if anyone using an image took the time to send a wee acknowledgement to me for forwarding to the family.

John's images can be found throughout this blog, as you'll see in the list opposite.

Now, continuing my habit of getting a hurl for nothing, I’m moving back to the Nineteenth Century.

The McLean Museum in Greenock houses a treasure trove of art, much of it maritime in nature in keeping with a town that lived on shipping and shipbuilding. They include some great paintings by the town’s William Clark and I  asked the Museum for their consent to republish the following images. They’re happy, subject of course to their involvement being acknowledged. I’m adding their blog to my links list and suggest that any fellow maritime and historical bloggers should consider likewise. I hope that if you decide to republish anything you will extend this great public asset the courtesy of a similar acknowledgement. There are some very interesting articles on their blog and they deserve a lot more followers than they presently have.

William Clark lived from 1803 to 1883 and so his work covered most of the Victorian age. 

The image at the top of this post is of the Eldon, which I suspect was in the Australia trade around the 1840s. The first and second images below have the museum’s own captions added. Many thanks are due to the Leggy Prawn, who alerted me to the Museum's  great archive in the first place.

A mid nineteenth century oil painting on canvas entitled 'The Queen's Visit to the Clyde 17th August 1847' by William Clark (1803-1883), showing a view of Queen Victoria's visit to the River Clyde in 1847. The scene is on the River Clyde with a group of large and small vessels decked in flags with many smoke plumes visible. The participating vessels are left to right, Hercules, Chieftain, Fire, Queen, Conqueror, Admiral Garland, Victoria & Albert, Mars, Scourge, Undine, Fairy, Thetis, Sovereign, Premier, Craignesh Castle. Signed and dated 'W. Clark 1847' at the lower left by the artist.

A mid nineteenth century oil painting on canvas entitled 'The Tug Conqueror' by William Clark (1803-1883), showing a scene on the River Clyde off Greenock with a wooden hulled paddle tugboat on the right and sailing vessel on the left. In the background the building popularly known as the 'Duke of Argyll's stables'. Unsigned by the artist.

Next we see some shipping becalmed off the Cloch - how often have we been there? And finally the visit of the Fleet.

Olympic Yachts - More Images from John Gardner

For Olympic year 1996 John Gardner produced a series of former competitors, which I am happy to show here.

Above is Magda IX, designed by Johan Anker, the Norwegian winner of the Gold at the 1912 Games held at Nynashamn in Sweden. Sadly there were only three entries, the others being Erna-Signe from Sweden and Heatherbell from Finland.

Next we move on to the 1936 Berlin Olympics, the sailing events taking place outside Kiel. The British entry Lalage, designed by Charles E. Nicholson, won the Gold, after a tense series of seven races at the end of which Lalage, the Swiss Ylliam III and the Norwegian Lully II were all equal on points. Unexpectedly the Swiss entry was then disqualified for infringing the amateur status rule. In the redistribution of points between the other two Lalage came out one point better to win the series.

 In his mind's eye John must have been on almost the same spot I was sailing over in 1998 when I took this picture during a race in quite windy conditions. You can see the U-boat memorial in the background in both images.

Fast forward to 1948 at Torbay in Devon. Here we see Johan Anker's Dragon Class yachts, Norwegian design of course and the winner Pan also from Norway, narrowly beating Sweden's Slaghoken and Denmark's Snap.

For Helsinki in 1952 the Swede Richard Sarby designed the Finn Class for single-handed racing with an unusual rotating rig and unstayed mast. Competitors drew lots for identical boats built by Borreson of Denmark, whose Paul Elvstrom won the series with four wins, beating Britain's Charles Curry and the Richard  Sarby himself picking up the bronze.

Next we have the Star Class at the 1964 games on Enoshima Bay near Tokyo. The Bahamas entry Gem took the gold, the American Glider the silver and Sweden's Pelle Pettersson the bronze.

On Lake Ontario in 1976, in Solings, Denmark's Odds-n-Ends took the gold despite only winning one race, the Americans took the silver and the East Germans got the bronze.

Finally John Gardner chose to depict the Tornado catamarans at Long Beach in 1984, the gold going to New Zealand with a boat built by Reg White of Brightlingsea, Essex, the silver to the United States and the bronze to the Australia. With one hull out of the water these machines can easily reach twenty five knots.

John Gardner, marine artist, more images

Cutty Sark

"Her cutty sark, o' Paisley harn,

That while a lassie she had worn,

In longitude tho' sorely scanty,

It was her best, and she was vauntie."

Designed by Hercules Linton, construction started by his firm of Scott & Linton for shipowners John Willis, but her specification was so high that she bankrupted them, so the hull was towed across the River Leven to be finished by Denny Brothers. She was launched on 22 November 1869 and is one of only two surviving composite clippers, along with City of Adelaide, below.

Following a serious fire in May 2007 her restoration has changed course and now involves raising the ship above the level of her dock and incorporating her in a novel architectural construction, which her Preservation Trust confidently states will ensure her future for at least fifty years without the need for further maintenance! The project can be visited at http://www.cuttysark.org.uk.

Passat

Passat and Pommern were two of the famous "Flying P" ships operated by the shipowner Ferdinand Laeisz of Hamburg. He had idiosyncratic views about how to operate a shipping line and was enormously successful as a result. Reasoning that a bunch of old codgers at head office would forget what life was like at sea he retired his captains to office jobs at fortyfive. He preferred to see that his ships were exceptionally well-equipped, instead of paying hefty premiums to underwriters. Each captain had a power of attorney from the firm authorising him to instruct emergency repairs anywhere in the world.  In the early years the line suffered virtually no accidents, so Herr Laeisz was able to obtain cargoes usually obtained only by steamships. The ships attained incredible speeds, often eighteen knots with enough wind, and from about 1910 they began to suffer collisions with cross-channel steamers, who often misjudged their speed. Because of this Herr Laeisz acquired a fleet of steam tugs, which collected his ships off Dover and towed them home to Hamburg, returning with the next out-going ship. John has depicted this in his image of Pommern.

Pommern

Several of the "Flying P" ships were bought by Captain Gustav Erikson of Mariehamn in Finland, who continued to operate in sail long after almost everyone else had given up. As a result Pommern is still on show at Mariehamn and Passat is moored at Travemuende outside Luebeck.

In researching this post I was delighted to discover that the Laeisz company is still going strong and you can read more about them here:- http://www.laeisz.de

Af Chapman

Af Chapman is now an easily-recognised landmark in Stockholm Harbour, externally as original but internally fitted out as a tourist hostel. She started out as a speculative build in Whitehaven in 1885, when orders were scarce, and in 1888 found Irish owners who named her Dunboyne. She had a successful career under sail, latterly as a Danish training ship, ending just before the Second World War, during which she served as a barracks. She was rescued for her present use in 1949.

City of Adelaide

City of Adelaide was built in 1864 at Sunderland for the Australia trade, transporting emigrants outwards and returning with wool. Her best run was 65 days from pilot to pilot. Subsequently she had various careers, including a training ship, a hospital ship during the First World War (which involved cutting ventilation openings in her sides), a gunnery school and then for many years she was moored in the centre of Glasgow as a floating club under the name of HMS Carrick.

During her clubhouse years she had a tendency to sink from time to time, but being in a shallow berth she was always successfully refloated. Unfortunately someone had the bright idea to shift her down river to a new site and almost simultaneously someone else jumped in and had her listed as a "Grade A" listed building, as far as I know the first time this had happened to a floating structure. One consequence of this, whether or not intended, was that the adjoining wharf where she was to be moored would like the ship become subject to strict planning constraints and frustrate the purposes of the speculative house-builders who owned the site. In the event she solved the problem by sinking again, for reasons which have never been disclosed, before reaching her new berth. This left the City of Glasgow with the problem of a "listed building" submerged on the bed of the Clyde.

The Scottish Maritime Museum (so-called but in reality rather a parochial operation), backed by various public bodies in Ayrshire, saw an opportunity and in 1992 acquired ownership. At first she lay in Irvine Harbour, shrouded in black plastic sheeting and constantly sprayed with water to keep her tight, but obviously not an appealing sight. Regrettably in September 1993, against expert advice from Alexander Stephen of Linthouse, whose firm had maintained her, the museum had her hauled out on a slipway to provide a better attraction for visitors. This was the start of her undoing, as within a few months gaps were showing in her sides and it must have been obvious that she would never again float. Nonetheless she continued to consume vast amounts of public money until in 1999 the museum gave up on her and eventually sought permission to demolish their "listed building". To date this hasn't happened and her best hope currently is that descendants of her original passengers will be successful in transporting her to Australia and a new life. They are currently the preferred bidders among a number of organisations intent on rescuing her. See http://cityofadelaide.org.au

Polly Woodside

Polly Woodside was built in 1889 at Belfast and in her first eight years rounded the Horn sixteen times. In 1923, having sailed in the Pacific for New Zealand owners under the name Rona, she became a coal hulk in Australia, which paradoxically led to her preservation, as in 1968 her historical value was recognised and she was saved by the Australian National Trust. She is now berthed in Melbourne and can be viewed online here:-  http://www.pollywoodside.com.au

John Gardner, marine artist

St Peter, the ship of Vitus Bering

Last May John Gardner, one of Scotland's finest marine artists and a great and loyal friend to many, sadly passed away unexpectedly. Peter and I first met him in August 1974 just before the start of a yacht race in Oban Bay. We were foolishly taking part in West Highland Week in my small open Loch Long and, knowing that we had no cooking facilities, John's Unity sailed up alongside and passed across a hearty plate of sausages and beans. We became two of many who were to enjoy his friendship and benign influence over the years.

You can read the nice obituary that appeared in the press, here:- Herald Obituary

As a little tribute to John I am reproducing a selection of images from his Ships of Discovery series from 1988.

Fram, designed by Colin Archer, the ship of Nansen, Sverdrup and Amundsen

Santa Maria, the ship of Christopher Columbus

S Gabriel, Vasco da Gama's flagship

Robert Peary's Roosevelt

Captain James Cook's Endeavour

Pourqois-pas?, the ship of Jean Baptiste Charcot