A beautiful and majestic work of art from the diverse repertoire of Montague Dawson's paintings, the warm and luminous marine narrative of the Medium Clipper DREADNOUGHT celebrates the speed and impressive voyages of 19th Century Transatlantic merchant ship. Sun tossed swells full of marvelous color abound beneath the wooden ship driven by the billowing canvas. Her Red Cross emblem is proudly displayed, as a direct competitor to the Black Ball Packet Line in service from New York to Liverpool as an American Packet Ship. DREADNOUGHT proved to be such a fast sail that her owners would advertise that cargoes would arrive on time or they'd refund the shipper's money back.
DREADNOUGHT was built in 1853 by Currier & Townsend of Newburyport, Mass., after William Currier had studied alongside Donald McKay for several ships. The Clipper came to be known as "The Wild Boat of the Atlantic", and made several 11 to 13 day passages east to Liverpool, and one in Captain Samuel Samuels book of 9 days and 17 hours. While Boston's McKay would claim to build "the world's fastest clippers" Newburyport prided itself that none ever matched their medium clipper packet's overall record. She was modeled to be a fast and capable carrier. Her dimensions echo this: 200'L x 39'B x 26.5'D.
In the mid-Atlantic Ocean, Dawson has the sunlight glorious catching the ship and sea, making glistening valleys amongst the white caps, and the pale presence of the colorful clouds hold positions softly overhead in contrast to the deep tones of the fastest merchant clipper on the Atlantic Ocean. An absolute masterpiece painting of a great ship in a perfect compliment of art and history.
