Liverpool’s importance as a maritime center of Western Europe shows through in this rare early portrait by Miles Walters of the merchant ship GIPSEY entering the Mersey. He completes the marine atmosphere with depictions of early steam paddle wheelers, a multitude of sailing yachts and an exceptional three-masted seacombe ferry boat, BANG-UP, with her advertisement on her sail.

The focal point, a port-side view of the GIPSEY, details the grace of her 112.6 foot length. With a 28.2 foot beam and 19.1 foot depth of hold, she was a large vessel for her day. Built in 1826 for John Tobin of Liverpool by Mottershead & Hayes, she primarily ran trade routes from England to India for more than 22 years.

Walters trademarks reside throughout this work. His intricate detail quality shows not just in GIPSEY’s three views, but throughout the busy harbor, the buildings onshore and the distant view of Perch Rock Fort off the coast at right. GIPSEY’s flags, from her decoded numeric Liverpool code at the foremast, her name pendant on the main, the yellow and blue Isle of Man standard from the mizzen, likely belonging to GIPSEY’s Captain Quirk, and the early 19th century ensign aft, are completely accurate.

A classic scene of a large mid-Nineteenth Century schooner at rest in the Mediterranean port painted by the Italian countryman Tomaso De Simone. The complete narrative scene around the schooner’s broadside is complemented with a British merchant steam/sail ship, local boats and the colorful sky and headland architecture of the ancient city.

The vast serenity and unspoiled life of cruising the Mediterranean Ocean is a must for pleasure yachting. No less so 150 years ago, when the British schooners of several yacht clubs are reported to have staged a long-distance race for the 1864 season. It is believed that the club burgee flying on this yacht is of the Royal Western Yacht Club, based at Queen Anne’s Battery in Portsmouth, established in 1833. At home, the schooner VINDEX earned the record as top racer, with MADCAP as the second-best yacht for a season full of events.

Atmospherically, this work is a joy, with its full headland displaying the classic buildings of the Italian port. While the American Civil War raged and the English professed neutrality, their economic and nationalistic interests lay intertwined with the Confederate South, and its cotton exports and shipping needs. While on pleasure cruises and private challenge runs, the British undoubtedly kept an eye open for the unfolding events of the American War Between the States, played out on the World’s waters.

A strong commissioned portrait of the Portland, Maine barque straight from the heart of the sailing era. Likely ordered by her master, Jacob Merryman, for her owner, William Stanwood, the ship served for years. The two position portrait is complimented with the small ketch and gig boat near her, and the nice profile of the sidewheel steam pilot awaiting her maneuver. The Dover headland with a silhouette of the main castle complete the scene.

It is interesting to note that the works of I. Tudgay appear only in the singular, rather than in conjunction with the other family members. There is one school of thought which believes that ‘J’ and ‘I’ are the same.

This portrait shows some very tight detail in both views of the barque, which is reefing in sails to come to anchor. Built in 1836 at Brunswick, Maine for her owner by Stephen Harris, she measured 132’9"L x 30’1.5"B x 15’1"D. Harris had family members in the lumber and ship building trades since the pre-colonial establishment of the Kennebec communities, whom were widely known for their American schooners. Only fitting she is portrayed in a fine manner by this renown member of a family of artists.

Off the southernmost tip of the Isle of Wight is no place for an inexperienced sailor. With that forethought, there would be few “greenhands” onboard Louis Loubat’s racing schooner, ENCHANTRESS. Built in Greenpoint, New Jersey from a model by Captain Bob Fish, one of the most experienced yachtsmen of any day, she was a product of the Pine shipyard. Captain Fish would sail her over “the pond” in 1874 and lead her for part of the next three seasons in English waters. Here she competes directly with two English schooners pressing her hard, EGERIA and PANTOMIME.

The warm light upon the give depth to this dramatic and complicated composition. The Nab Lightship is a marker point, with the excursion committee steamer of the Royal Yacht Squadron keeping times for the racers. Stateside, ENCHANTRESS was a direct competitor of SAPPHO, and had a continued record of success. She won the Cape May Cup in its second year, in a race from the Sandy Hook Lightship to the Cape and back.

The large schooner measured 127'2" in length with a 24'1" beam and a depth of 10'3". She originally was ordered and owned by George Lorillard, a tobacco baron of the 19th Century, who sold the racing yacht to Loubat in 1873. In a remarkable effort, Couch has somewhat deviated from his proven broadsides of 19th Century racing yachts to a spectacular frozen moment against a difficult headwind and a cresting ocean in the southern reaches of England.

One of three 19th Century ship portraits to have surfaced in the modern era by the artist J.A. Moutte, this working scene of the Swedish Ship BENGAL is interesting on several levels. Inscribed with the Captain’s identity, A. Osc. Carlson, and emblazoned with Swedish Merchant Ensign and International Code Flags proclaiming her identity, the ship is a sharp lined, full bodied wooden hull with a large expanse of sail canvas.

Moutte is listed as the principle ship owner with a French firm based in Marseilles that carried his name from 1855-1880. The company owned five ships, all three masters. The first was JOHANN FRIEDERICH, built in 1855 and listed in the German registry. LOUIS MOUTTE was built and registered as a French merchant ship in 1868.

BENGAL, while a wildly popular name in the records of maritime activities, is an as yet unrecognized for a 1872 listing of the Swedish Barque. Buried somewhere in Swedish archives will be her builders history and ports of call, undoubtably in service to Moutte & Co. Dirtectly. This fine watercolor portrait is a first step toward rediscovering its importance.

Escalating early in the 19th century and into the late 1870s with the dangerous smuggling of opium, the China trade route has been an important era in trade. The development of competition between America and Britain for the growing tea trade contributed to a focus in the orient. As a result, many captains commissioned talented Chinese artists to document these vessels, both sail and steam powered, whose reputation for speed, efficiency were known to break all records.

Values of China trade works have shown very strong responses in the marine art market. Several factors contribute to this success: they combine a traditional portrait style with very romantic overtones; their demand is also due to the distinct features that the works possess. A Chinese school work can be recognized immediately by its unique style and technique: straightforward and direct, yet sophisticated in both coloration and detailing.

The common sailors, with increasing disdain for the pomp of the British admiralty in the naming of her great ships, especially to the education-challenged, called the fine ship the “Billy Ruffian”; a name they could infinitely more or less identify with. China trade shipping era is part of an important, exciting period of western history lasting nearly two centuries and continuing through our present times.