A full bodied Downeaster from the Bath, Maine Yard of the renown builder John McDonald, credited with building more wooden sailing ships than any other American, ST. FRANCES embodied the post-clipper era of a capable sailing ship that could carry large cargos at a decent speed with a reduced crew. On a day when the sea is rolling a deep azure blue and the sky is tall, ST. FRANCES is headed on one of her eight voyages round Cape Horn to San Francisco. She would complete her last in 1899, selling afterwards to California owners.

An eastern schooner shows off the bow, while ST. FRANCES’ dominant size - 231'4"L x 41'8"B x 17'8"D - would keep most well clear of the sailing ship. Patterson puts her forth in a very realistic manner, with just enough sail to properly pull the ship smartly through the water; no exaggeration of effort or speed. ST. FRANCES would average about 140 days in her East to West Coast voyages, and 134 on the return trip to the Northeast. After ten years in West Coast lumber and cargo trade, she sold again to salmon packers out of Alaska, where she lasted until 1914.

The downeaster features a four-flag International Code arraignment beneath the American Ensign, “H.V.W.J.”, and the crew is readily apparent near the bow, while lifeboats are nested on top the forward cabin. An unusual dual set of cabins aft indicate the officer’s quarters, a tradition carried down from the earliest days of nautical endeavors. Fitting that such a worldly ship should be presented by one of the best sailor-artists ever to paint.

Crack Downeaster JABEZ HOWES slices the cold Pacific waters entering the mouth of San Francisco Bay as once witnessed by the eye of sailor-artist Charles Robert Patterson in this large scale scene. The dramatic sense of this accomplishment is accented with several observations: the setting sun at their backs illuminates the sails, which are healthily employed to create the rake of speed as the bow breaks way through the sparkling surf; the mist is risen to the uppermost ridge top allowing for the days warmth to slowly be taken by the cool fog of Northern California, and the men on deck are actively at their tasks of making ready to reach their harbor berth.

The complete composition is a remarkable work of art. While Patterson employs a loose suggestive brush with his own inventive coloration throughout the canvas, the entirety reads true to life. The headland is the famous Lime Point where the north foundations of the Golden Gate Bridge connect to the Mendicino Coast today. Patterson knew these shores well, having sailed from the East Coast to San Francisco on several voyages in the 1890s, and in 1926 with the U.S. Navy. He went home and painted this portrait that year for his one-man show presented by Arthur Harlow in New York City. Patterson also used this painting to illustrate two magazine articles in 1927 and 1945.

The sharp lines and six courses of sail per mast speak of its driven quest for speed for the capable carrier. Built in 1877 by the esteemed yard of John Currier, Jr. In Newburyport, Mass., the 218.7 ft. ship weighed in at a massive 1581 tons. Owned by George Howes & Co of New York, the downeaster earned the reputation as one of the fastest sailing vessels of the last quarter of the 19th Century. She would sail from the Atlantic to San Francisco’s Golden Gate 17 times before the turn of the century, primarily for her second owner, John Rosenfield of San Francisco; and one sailing from New York to Melbourne, Australia around Cape Good Hope in 80 days. In 1900, she went into the Pacific lumber trade, and after seven years, she sold to the Alaskan Packers Association, and running out of Puget Sound, she called on West Coast ports in both North and South America, until she went aground in 1911, after 34 years of hard-driven service.

Beautifully vibrant with colors as bold as when artist Charles Robert Patterson painted this work, this is a fine marine narrative of a large American vessel sailing for pleasure captured on canvas. The barkentine’s crew proudly hoist the American Yachting Ensign with the circle of 13 stars around the fouled anchor, established for American registered yachts by Congress so ships could avoid customs’ inspections in local harbors. Several figures are shown on-deck enjoying the task of sailing the large vessel.

This painting is perfect in compositional scale, with the black-over-red funnel of a Cunard Passenger Liner cutting the Atlantic waters. In the first quarter of the 20th Century there were dozens of Cunard Liners, pre-and-post war, and some such as SCYTHIA, whose profile matches nicely to the silhouette of the distant liner, ran the Liverpool-to-New York route often. Today’s breeze is stiff and driving both the sailing yacht and the passenger’s liners smoke exhaust.

Patterson depicts the distance in three interest methods: his water actually lightens and has less variation over the sunny distance, the cloud formations and density draw us to view the sky nearly a three-dimensional with the decreasing sizes and solid atmosphere on the horizon., and the bold contrast of the close yacht to the hazy illusion of the liner expands the space pictured. At this distance one would wonder who was more envious of the others, the opulence of the age aboard the transatlantic liners of Cunard verse the freedom of pleasure cruising a traditional sailing ship.