Masterfully cutting a beam reach through the precarious isle of shoals, this American schooner has enough canvas swung to wing to sail safely by the smaller fishing dory headed to the open Atlantic. Only a captain familiar with the local waters would drive such a fast ship so close to the shores of this American archipelago. Even so the fore topsail has parted its clew line and is becoming undone.
The White Island Lighthouse marks the southern-most point of the nine islands shared between the states of New Hampshire and Maine. Its first incarnation was built in 1789, and this one, still in converted-solar power existence today, was built in 1859. It carries the name of Captain Joseph White, who was born on the small island in 1750. The other eight have the following colorful names: Seaveys, Lunging, Star, Cedar, Smuttynose, Appledore, Malaga and Duck Islands. Several rock and reef hazards in the area are also named. Local legend has it that Blackbeard the Pirate honeymooned in the isles and even buried treasure on Lunging Island.
Capturing the precision of events at sea is a specialty of Sheppard's art. Quite involved in not only painting prominent racing yachts of his day, he once was the winning captain in the important New York to Bermuda yacht race. Sheppard held that technical expertise would be as important as his aesthetic quality, with its dramatic rake and full effect of wind direction and currents visible in the painting, with the clouds pushing in a congruous direction with the sails. This a very professional atmospheric artwork with a historic landmark.
