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Catalog entry

inv. 439
View of New Bedford: From the Fort near Fairhaven
New Bedford from the Fort near Fairhaven; View of New Bedford - From the Fort Near Fairhaven; View of New Bedford / From the Fort Near Fairhaven; View of New Bedford from the Fort Near Fairhaven; View of New Bedford, From the Fort Near Fairhaven; View of New Bedford. From the Fort Near Fairhaven
1845
Lithograph on paper
17 15/16 x 25 1/4 in. (45.5 x 64 cm) (sheet) 48 x 65.5 cm
F.H. Lane det. From a sketch by A. Conant.
Published by A. Conant
Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1845 by A. Conant in the clerk's office of the District Court of Massachusetts.
Lane & Scott's Lith. Tremont Temple, Boston
Collections:

Commentary

Albert Conant, an artist, printer, publisher and art teacher, commissioned several lithography firms to print his city views of Baltimore, Norwich, Connecticut, and six towns in Massachusetts. Lane & Scott printed six of the eight. This view of New Bedford is a stunning accomplishment for Conant who did the original sketch and for Fitz Henry Lane who augmented Conant’s work and then drew the image on stone.

From the Fairhaven shore, on the east bank of the Acushnet River, Albert Conant looked due west and drew the detailed, if distant, view of New Bedford which Lane used to make this lithograph. Lane’s earliest known visit to New Bedford was in 1856, on the occasion of the New York Yacht Club regatta. He was thus reliant on Conant for an accurate depiction of the city.

The vessels in this view are another story. At center is the steamboat “Massachusetts,” built in 1842 for the Nantucket Steamboat Company for operation between Nantucket, Cape Cod ports, and New Bedford. The smaller sailing vessels – several sloops of various sizes and a topsail schooner aground – were in the coastal trade, transporting passengers and goods among the harbors and islands around Buzzard’s Bay and beyond.

Dominating the scene are the ships of New Bedford’s whaling fleet (which was then the largest in the country), but not just the ships in the middle ground. Looking beyond them to the city’s waterfront, we see a forest of masts belonging to dozens of whaling ships tied up at the wharves, fitting out for new voyages or recently arrived, unloading oil from completed voyages of three or four years. This activity afloat was to become typical of Lane’s later harbor scenes: vessels carefully arranged to lead the eye around the harbor and back to the wharves and the waterfront activity.

If it is true that he never visited New Bedford prior to 1856, Lane’s sources for the details of the whaleships are intriguing. There were some whaling voyages out of Massachusetts seaports north of Boston, including a few out of Gloucester. Assuming those ships followed New Bedford whalers in aspects of outfits and rigging, it seems likely that Lane would have studied and drawn them, assisted by contemporary published views of whaling ships in lithographs or newspaper articles.

–Erik Ronnberg

References:

George Francis Dow, “Whale Ships and Whaling” (Salem, MA: Marine Research Society, 1925), p. 183

Sally Pierce and Catharina Slautterback, “Boston Lithography, 1825 – 1880” (Boston, MA: The Boston Athenaeum, 1991), pp. 141, 177.

“New Bedford and Old Dartmouth: A Portrait of a Region’s Past” (New Bedford, MA: Old Dartmouth Historical Society, 1975), p. 124.

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Subject Types:   Harbor Scene »
Vessel Types:   Named Vessel »   //   Schooner »   //   Sloop »   //   Steamship »
Massachusetts Locales:   New Bedford »
Animals & People:   Children »   //   Livestock (horse / sheep / cow) »
Objects:   American Flag / Ensign »   //   Anchor »
Building Types:   Commercial Building »

Historical Materials
Below is historical information related to the Lane work above. To see complete information on a subject on the Historical Materials page, click on the subject name (in bold and underlined).

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New Bedford is a coastal town in Massachusetts, and in the nineteenth century was one of the most important whaling ports in America. New Bedford Harbor (with New Bedford on one side and the town of Fairhaven on the other) is the estuary of the Acushnet River. The river empties into Buzzards Bay past Clarks Point, the southernmost point of the city. In 1856 the New-York Yacht Club Regatta took place in New Bedford, and Lane made several paintings of the event.

 

New Bedford and Old Dartmouth: A Portrait of a Region's Past, New Bedford: Old Dartmouth Historical Society, 1976.

PDF
view ]
publication
1856 U.S. Nautical Magazine and Naval Journal v. 5
John W. Griffiths, ed.
October 1856–March 1857
The U.S. Nautical Magazine and Naval Journal, vol. 5
pp. 16–18

Article about the New-York Yacht Club regatta held at New Bedford on August 8, 1856, as painted by Lane. Includes lists of participating yachts and times in New Bedford.

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Vessels (Specific / Named): "Orazimbo" (Whaler)

Essay to come.

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Vessels (Specific / Named): "Tarterno" (Half Brig)

Essay to come.

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Whaling schooners carried the standard two-masted fore-and-aft rig, almost always without square topsails, and were of moderate size (70 to 80 feet on deck), some later examples being larger. When built specifically for whaling, their bottoms had strong deadrise to keep ballast low in the hull and close to the centerline. This allowed easy initial heeling so the cutting-in tackle hung over the whale's carcass when cutting-in. Beyond that angle, the hull became much more resistant to heeling.

Distinguished by their whaleboats carried on side davits, there is currently only one known example of a whaling schooner depicted by Lane (see A Calm Sea, c.1860 (inv. 6), right foreground), and aspects of the boats and davits are open to question. It was customary for a small whaler to carry two boats on the port side and only one to starboard, leaving the midships part of the starboard side clear for cutting-in the whale. The davits in Lane's painting also differ in form and construction, having horizontal "arms" instead of curved ones.

The strong deadrise in whaling schooner bottoms had the added effect of making their bows and sterns sharper (below the waterline), while the need for work space on deck made their topside ends full and buoyant. A schooner built for whaling could be very able in heavy seas, and while not built for speed, was hardly the dull sailer imagined by many.

Whaling schooners carried three whaleboats ready for action, and often a "spare boat"—upside down—on the "tail feathers" as depicted by Lane. One of the whaleboats in his painting (Inv. 6 foreground) can be seen returning to the schooner. When "going on a whale." there were six men on —five rowing and one steering.

– Erik Ronnberg

References:

1. Clifford W. Ashley, The Yankee Whaler (Cambridge, MA: The Riverside Press, 1938), 45–47, 57–64.

2. James Templeman Brown, "The Whalemen, Vessels, Apparatus of the Fishery", in G. Brown Goode, The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1887), Section V, Vol. II, 232–35, 240–47.

3. Albert Cook Church, Whale Ships and Whaling (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1938), see photo nos. 2-6, 93-97, 114–23.

artwork
A Calm Sea
Fitz Henry Lane
1860
Oil on canvas
24 x 26 1/4 in.
Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, Mass., Estate of Catalina Davis, 1932 (642.13b)

This is the only known depiction of a whaling schooner (detail) in Lane's work, believed to be in New York Harbor.

Also filed under: Whale Fishery »

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The term "ship," as used by nineteenth-century merchants and seamen, referred to a large three-masted sailing vessel which was square-rigged on all three masts. (1) In that same period, sailing warships of the largest classes were also called ships, or more formally, ships of the line, their size qualifying them to engage the enemy in a line of battle. (2) In the second half of the nineteenth century, as sailing vessels were replaced by engine-powered vessels, the term ship was applied to any large vessel, regardless of propulsion or use. (3)

Ships were often further defined by their specialized uses or modifications, clipper ships and packet ships being the most noted examples. Built for speed, clipper ships were employed in carrying high-value or perishable goods over long distances. (4) Lane painted formal portraits of clipper ships for their owners, as well as generic examples for his port paintings. (5)

Packet ships were designed for carrying capacity which required some sacrifice in speed while still being able to make scheduled passages within a reasonable time frame between regular destinations. In the packet trade with European ports, mail, passengers, and bulk cargos such as cotton, textiles, and farm produce made the eastward passages. Mail, passengers (usually in much larger numbers), and finished wares were the usual cargos for return trips. (6) Lane depicted these vessels in portraits for their owners, and in his port scenes of Boston and New York Harbors.

Ships in specific trades were often identified by their cargos: salt ships which brought salt to Gloucester for curing dried fish; tea clippers in the China Trade; coffee ships in the West Indies and South American trades, and  cotton ships bringing cotton to mills in New England or to European ports.  Some trades were identified by the special destination of a ship’s regular voyages; hence Gloucester vessels in the trade with Surinam were identified as Surinam ships (or barks, or brigs, depending on their rigs). In Lane’s Gloucester Harbor scenes, there are likely (though not identifiable) examples of Surinam ships, but only the ship "California" in his depiction of the Burnham marine railway in Gloucester (see Three Master on the Gloucester Railways, 1857 (inv. 29)) is so identified. (7)

– Erik Ronnberg

References:

1. R[ichard)] H[enry] Dana, Jr., The Seaman’s Friend, 13th ed. (Boston: Thomas Groom & Co., 1873), p. 121 and Plate IV with captions.

2. A Naval Encyclopaedia (Philadelphia: L. R. Hamersly & Co., 1884), 739, 741.

3.  M.H. Parry, et al., Aak to Zumbra: A Dictionary of the World’s Watercraft (Newport News, VA: The Mariners’ Museum, 2000), 536.

4. Howard I. Chapelle, The History of American Sailing Ships (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1935), 281–87.

5. Ibid.

6. Howard I. Chapelle, The National Watercraft Collection (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1960), 26–30.

7. Alfred Mansfield Brooks, Gloucester Recollected: A Familiar History (Gloucester, MA: Peter Smith, 1974), 67–69.

Golden State
1884
Photograph
From American Clipper Ships 1833–1858, by Octavius T. Howe and Frederick C. Matthews, vol. 1 (Salem, MA: Marine Research Society, 1926).

Photo caption reads: "'Golden State' 1363 tons, built at New York, in 1852. From a photograph showing her in dock at Quebec in 1884."

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photo (current)
"Friendship of Salem"
Built in 1998

A replica of an early nineteenth-century full-rigged ship.

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artwork
Homeward Bound
c.1865
Hand-colored lithograph
Published by N. Currier, New York
Library of Congress (2002695891)
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illustration
Ship
1885
Engraving from Merchant Vessels of the United States (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office)

Engraving of ship.

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artwork
Packet "Nonantum" Riding out a Gale
Samuel Walters
1842
Oil on canvas
24 x 35 in.
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass.

Walters' painting depicts the "Nonantum" homeward bound for Boston from Liverpool in 1842. The paddle-steamer is one of the four Clyde-built Britannia-class vessels, of which one is visible crossing in the opposite direction.

Image: Peabody Essex Museum
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illustration
Ship
Engraving in R. H. Dana, The Seaman's Friend, 13th ed. (Thomas Groom & Co. Publisher, 1873)

A ship is square-rigged throughout; that is, she has tops, and carries square sails on all three of her masts.

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artwork
Silhouettes of vessel types
Charles G. Davis
Book illustrations from "Shipping and Craft in Silhouette" by Charles G. Davis, Salem, Mass. Marine Research Society, 1929. Selected images
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Sloops are one-masted sailing vessels which, in American examples, set fore-and-aft sails but usually no square sails. Thus, staysails, or jibs, are set from the fore stay(s) and a quadrilateral mainsail is set from the mast and spread by a gaff and a boom. The larger sloops would often set a triangular topsail over the main sail. (1)

The sloops depicted by Lane were used in various coastal trades, each with its own requirements, which dictated the sizes and details of their hulls and rigs. Most elegant were the packet sloops, which transported passengers, mail, and higher value goods between specific ports on regular schedules. They usually measured between sixty and seventy-five feet on deck, as dictated by anticipated shipping volume. Finely finished, they usually had stern galleries—a row of windows across the transom with ornamental moldings—and varied color schemes. Examples of packet sloops are in Gloucester Harbor from Rocky Neck, 1844 (inv. 14) (center, middle ground) and Study of Ships, 1851 (inv. 141) (foreground), both of which probably made trips between Gloucester and Boston, or Gloucester and Newburyport. (2)

Another specialized sloop of similar size was the stone sloop, used to ship granite blocks from stone-loading piers around Cape Ann to other ports. They were similar in rig to packet sloops, but of heavier construction with greater hold capacity and absence of decoration. Their stout appearance was augmented by simple color schemes, or even tarred topsides, reflecting the wear and strain imposed by their heavy cargos. Lane depicted these vessels in his painting of Fresh Water Cove from Dolliver's Neck, Gloucester, Early 1850s (inv. 45), with a sloop (at left) preparing to load at wharf-side, and another (at right) sailing out with a cargo. (3)

Sloops of the more work-a-day sort are the most commonly seen examples in Lane’s paintings, most of them appearing in his views of Boston Harbor. Usually deep-loaded and looking weather-worn, they contrast sharply with the packet- and clipper ships which dominate the scene. Sloops of this type are rarely seen in Lane’s paintings of Gloucester Harbor and the Maine coast, although they were certainly needed for short-distance transportation (see Bear Island, Northeast Harbor, 1855 (inv. 24), View of Camden Mountains from Penobscot Bay, c.1852 (inv. 207), Sunrise on the Maine Coast, Mount Desert Island, 1856 (inv. 295)). For coastal Maine, lack of railroads for heavier freight and greater distances between ports made the use of schooners with larger carrying capacity a greater necessity. (4)

In Lane’s views of New York Harbor, a regional sloop variant, the Hudson River Sloop, appears in New York Harbor, c.1855 (inv. 46) (bow view, left) and A Calm Sea, c.1860 (inv. 6) (stern view, right). This type had become prominent in the Hudson River packet trade between New York City, Albany, and beyond to points north and west as far as the eastern terminus of the Erie Canal.  Large vessels for their rigs, they were well-finished and well-kept, reflecting pride of ownership and rivalry among their owners and crews. (5)

– Erik Ronnberg

References:

1. A Naval Encyclopaedia (Philadelphia: L.R. Hamersly & Co., 1884. Reprint: Detroit, MI: Gale Research Company, 1971), 59.  See first definition of "sloop" and definition of "sloop-rigged."

2. Robert Greenhalgh Albion, William A. Baker, and Benjamin Woods Labaree, New England and the Sea (Mystic, CT: Mystic Seaport Museum, 1972; reprinted in 1994), 127–28.

3. Howard I. Chapelle, The History of American Sailing Ships (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1935), 300–02.

4. Ibid., 300.

5. Ibid., 298–300.

illustration
Sloop
Engraving in R. H. Dana, The Seaman's Friend, 13th ed. (Thomas Groom & Co. Publisher, 1873)

A sloop has one mast, fore-and-aft rigged.

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publication
Bermudian sloop
1884
A Naval Encyclopaedia:
Dictionary of nautical words and phrases
Special Articles on Naval Art and Science
Philadelphia: L.R. Hamersly & Co.

'Mudian, "Mugian, or Bermudian. A boat special to the Bermuda islands, usually decked, with the exception of a hatch; from 2 to 20 tons burden; it is short, of good beam, and great draft of water abaft, the stem and keel forming a curved line. It carries an immense quantity of ballast. Besides a long main- and short jib-boom, it has a long, taperking, raking mast, stepped just over the forefoot, generally unsupported by shrouds or stays; on it a jib-headed mainsail is hoisted to a height of twice, and sometimes three times, the length of the keel. This sail is triangular, stretched at its foot by a long boom. The only other sail is a small foresail or jib. They claim to be the fastest craft in the world for working to windward in smooth water, it being recorded of one that she made five miles dead to windward in the hour during a race; and though they may be laid over until they fill with water, they will not capsize.

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artwork
Bermudian sloop in St. Georges Harbor, Bermuda
Edward James
c. 1864
St. George's Historical Society
Detail of painting of St. George's Harbour, Bermuda, during US Civil War, with a Confederate blockade runner anchored in the foreground.

Also filed under: Puerto Rico »

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object
Scale model of stone sloop "Albert Baldwin"
William Niemi
c.1940
Wood, metal, cordage, cloth, paint.
Scale: ¼ in. = 1ft. (1:48)
Cape Ann Museum. Gift of Roland and Martta Blanchet (1997.17.3)

Although built in 1890 and larger than the stone sloops of Lane’s time, the "Albert Baldwin’s" hull form, rig, and loading boom are very similar to those of the 1840s and 1850s.

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artwork
Silhouettes of vessel types
Charles G. Davis
Book illustrations from "Shipping and Craft in Silhouette" by Charles G. Davis, Salem, Mass. Marine Research Society, 1929. Selected images
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"Engine-powered vessel" is a collective term used by nautical historians to include all vessel types using engine power of any type for propulsion, whether assisted by sails, oars, or other motive power. In Lane's time, steam reciprocating engines fueled by wood or coal were the only practical source of this power for ships using paddle-wheels or screw propellers to convert heat energy into motion.

For most of the nineteenth century, steamships had sails for auxiliary power; indeed the earliest examples relied principally on sails, using engine power in calm weather to shorten the voyage time or keep to a schedule. As engines became more efficient, powerful, and reliable, sail plans were reduced, to be used only to steady a vessel's motion in a seaway (for the sake of seasick passengers), or to maintain headway if the engine broke down. Only harbor craft, ferry boats, and coastwise passenger steamers relied solely on engine power.

Among Lane's depictions of steamships, the auxiliary steam packet Auxiliary Steam Packet Ship Massachusetts (inv. 442) is a good example of primary reliance on sails, while the steam demi-bark The "Britannia" Entering Boston Harbor, 1848 (inv. 49) and the Cunard Liner "Britannia", 1842 (inv. 259) have relegated sails to secondary (or simply emergency) motive power.

– Erik Ronnberg

artwork
Boston Harbor (detail of steamship)
Fitz Henry Lane
Boston Harbor
1856
Oil on canvas
25 1/2 x 42 1/2 in. (64.8 x 108 cm)
Dated verso: 1856
Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Tex. (1977.14)
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Steamer Lewiston, at the Wharf, Castine
George E. Collins
Stereograph card
Castine Historical Society Collections (2015.03)

Also filed under: Historic Photographs »   //  Steamers »

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model
Harbor ferry "Little Giant"
John Gardner Weld
early 20th century
Wood and metal
Cape Ann Museum (1200)
Image: Erik Ronnberg
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publication
Boston Directory
George Adams
1848
Published by James French, Boston
Volume 1848-49
Boston Public Library
Call number 39999059856813

See p. 30 of directory.

Image: Boston Public Library
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illustration
Bound to Beat
Serrell & Perkins, Printer and Publisher
c.1851
Cartoon
9 1/4 x 13 3/4 in (23.495 x 34.925 cm)
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass.

Jonny and a Yankee:

Jonny: "Ho my Hi! 'ow she goes!! it his'nt fair I ham sure t'aint!!! She must 'av an engine hunder the keel..."

Yankee: "Where are your yachts now, Jonny? s-a-y- Do you think your wash tubs can come up to a real Yankee Clipper? Sorry for you, Jonny, but it can't be helped... A Yankee Ship a Yankee Crew, you know Jonny."

Image: Peabody Essex Museum
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Patent drawings for paddle wheel steamer
1842
Lithograph
Library of Congress Catalog Number 2002706878

Design of side wheel steamer showing wheel mechanism, side view and cross-section in ten figures. This design proved a failure in the few vessels that employed it. The paddle wheel enclosures filled with water, causing resistance which greatly impaired efficiency and increased fuel consumption.

– Erik Ronnberg

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artwork
"T.F. Secor" Passenger Steamship
Unknown
c. 1855
Oil on canvas
Maine Maritime Museum
Image: Maine Maritime Museum

Also filed under: Castine »

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PDF
view ]
publication
The Maine Register for the Year 1855 (Steamer Schedule)
George Adams, publisher
"The Maine Register for the Year 1855, embracing State and County Officers, and an abstract of the law and resolves; together with a complete business directory of the state, and a variety of useful information."

Steamer schedules for 1855, including the schedule for the steamer, "T. F. Secor" which served Castine, see pp. 234–35.

Also filed under: "T. F. Secor" (Steamboat) »   //  Castine »   //  Publications »   //  Steamers »

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The ensign of the United States refers to the flag of the United States when used as a maritime flag to indentify nationality. As required on entering port, a vessel would fly her own ensign at the stern, but a conventional  token of respect to the host country would be to fly the flag of the host country (the United States in Boston Harbor, for example) at the foremast. See The "Britannia" Entering Boston Harbor, 1848 (inv. 49) for an example of a ship doing this. The American ensign often had the stars in the canton arranged in a circle with one large star in the center; an alternative on merchant ensigns was star-shaped constellation. In times of distress a ship would fly the ensign upside down, as can be seen in Wreck of the Roma, 1846 (inv. 250).

 The use of flags on vessels is different from the use of flags on land. The importance and history of the flagpole in Fresh Water Cove in Gloucester is still being studied.

The modern meaning of the flag was forged in December 1860, when Major Robert Anderson moved the U.S. garrison from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Adam Goodheart argues this was the opening move of the American Civil War, and the flag was used throughout northern states to symbolize American nationalism and rejection of secessionism.

Before that day, the flag had served mostly as a military ensign or a convenient marking of American territory, flown from forts, embassies, and ships, and displayed on special occasions like American Independence day. But in the weeks after Major Anderson's surprising stand, it became something different. Suddenly the Stars and Stripes flew—as it does today, and especially as it did after the September 11 attacks in 2001—from houses, from storefronts, from churches; above the village greens and college quads. For the first time American flags were mass-produced rather than individually stitched and even so, manufacturers could not keep up with demand. As the long winter of 1861 turned into spring, that old flag meant something new. The abstraction of the Union cause was transfigured into a physical thing: strips of cloth that millions of people would fight for, and many thousands die for.

– Adam Goodheart, Prologue of 1861: The Civil War Awakening (2011).

 
photo (historical)
Cape Ann Scenery: No. 52 Fresh Water Cove
John S. E. Rogers, Publisher
1860s
Stereograph card
Cape Ann Museum Library & Archive

A view of a Cove on the western side of Gloucester Harbor, with the landing at Brookbank. Houses are seen in the woods back. A boat with two men is in the foreground.

Also filed under: Brookbank »   //  Fresh Water Cove »   //  Historic Photographs »

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publication
Oak Hall Pictorial: This is Oak Hall, in North Street Boston
Friend to American Enterprise
Unpaginated booklet
Courtesy American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. (CL.F9116.011.1854 CL.F9116.011.1854)

Also filed under: Oak Hall »

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artwork
Oak Hall Pictorial: This is the flag that waves on high
Friend to American Enterprise
Unpaginated booklet
Courtesy American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. (CL.F9116.011.1854)

Also filed under: Oak Hall »

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Maritime & Other Industries & Facilities: Whale Fishery

Given the preeminence of fishing and the foreign trade in Gloucester, it is hardly surprising that Lane gave so little attention to the whale fishery which was barely existent in seaports north of Cape Cod. Gloucester merchants made attempts at whaling in two periods: 1788–96 and 1833–36 with one other voyage in 1853-1854 and a failed attempt in the 1840s - ten voyages in a 60-year time span. There were whaling voyages out of nearby ports—Beverly, Salem, Lynn, and Boston—all on a similar scale, barely noticeable by comparison with other mercantile activity, not to mention the thriving whaling industry in New Bedford. (1)

While Lane made a lithograph of the port of New Bedford in View of New Bedford / From the Fort Near Fairhaven, 1845 (inv. 313), it was from another artist's drawing. There is no record of his having visited that city until 1856, when he observed and sketched the New York Yacht Club's regatta for a subsequent series of paintings (see New York Yacht Club Regatta (1), 1856 (inv. 66), New York Yacht Club Regatta (2), 1856 (inv. 270), New York Yacht Club Regatta (3), After 1856 (inv. 396), New York Yacht Club Regatta (4), 1857 (inv. 397)). There is also no evidence that he remained in New Bedford for any length of time to depict whaling vessels. As with New Bedford artist William Bradford and Albert van Beest, had friction developed between Lane and Bradford, who was also busy with his own depiction of the regatta? (2)

Lane's only known depiction of a whaling vessel—a whaling schooner—is apparently set in New York Harbor, probably at the time of his first visit (on record) to that city, in 1850. The schooner's hull and rig are typical for the period, the only jarring detail being two pairs of davits on the starboard (right-hand) side for the whaleboats when there should be only one. The forward davits and whaleboat should be on the port (left-hand) side, leaving the starboard midships unobstructed for cutting-in and boarding the whale's "blanket piece" (a wide strip if skin and blubber peeled continuously in a spiral). Given the possibility that this schooner hailed from a New York-based port with its own ideas of whaling, Lane may have rendered accurately a very atypical davit configuration. The whaleboats—including the one approaching the schooner—are accurately depicted. (3)

– Erik Ronnberg

References:

1. Alexander Starbuck, "History of the American Whale Fishery from Its Earliest Inception to the Year 1875", in Report of the Commissioner for 1875-76 (Washington: U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries, 1878), in tables showing returns of whaling vessels for ports and years cited.

2. Richard C. Kugler, "William Bradford", in Richard C Kugler (editor), William Bradford: Sailing Ships & Arctic Seas (New Bedford, Seattle, and London: New Bedford Whaling Museum and the University of Washington Press, 2003), 8–9.

3. G. Brown Goode, The Fish and Fisheries of the United States, Section V, Plates (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1887), see plates 185, 186, 188, 190.

artwork
A Calm Sea
Fitz Henry Lane
1860
Oil on canvas
24 x 26 1/4 in.
Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, Mass., Estate of Catalina Davis, 1932 (642.13b)

This is the only known depiction of a whaling schooner (detail) in Lane's work, believed to be in New York Harbor.

Also filed under: Schooner (Whaling) »

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Lane & Scott's Lithography was a Boston-based firm formed by Fitz Henry Lane and John W. A. Scott. The partnership spanned 1844–48, after both artists had apprenticed for prominent Boston lithographer, William Pendleton. The firm was located at 16 Tremont Temple, Boston and created sheet music covers, book illustrations, advertisements, prints, and town views. Lane left the firm around 1847 or 1848 and Scott printed some works under his own name.

This information has been summarized from Boston Lithography 1825–1880 by Sally Pierce and Catharina Slautterback. 

map
1837 plan of the City of Boston
Charles Stimpson
1837
9 x 14 in.
Cape Ann Museum Library & Archive

Showing Lane's neighborhood while working in Boston. Lane had studios at the intersection of Washington and State Streets, Summer, Tremont and School Streets.

Also filed under: Boston City Views »   //  Maps »   //  Professional »   //  Residences »   //  Tremont Temple »

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map
A Map of Plymouth Village
Lane & Scott Lith.
Frontispiece of " Pilgrim memorials, and guide for visitors to Plymouth Village: : with a lithographic map, and seven copperplate engravings." / By Wm. S. Russell, recording secretary of the Pilgrim Society. ; [Eight lines from Oliver Wendell Holmes]
Boston: : Printed for the author, by C.C.P. Moody, Old Dickinson Office–52 Washington Street., 1851
Courtesy of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester.
Call Number LML Plym Russ P851

American Antiquarian Society copy of book inscribed: Belonging to J.G. Orton. Bought in Pilgrim Hall Plymouth, Mass. Oct. 10th 1851

Map of Plymouth Village in 1846 signed: Lane & Scott's Lith., Boston

Image: American Antiquarian Society
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publication
The Voyage of the "Jamestown" on her Errand of Mercy
Robert Bennet Forbes
1847
Boston
Eastburn's Press

Link to Google Books.

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Albert Conant was an artist, printer, publisher, and art teacher. From 1835 to 1850 he drew New England town views that were printed by J.H. Bufford, E.W.Bouvé, and John W.A. Scott was well as by Lane & Scott. He was possibly the same A. Conant whose views of Kansas towns were lithographed by Middleton, Strowbridge & Co. of Cincinnati from 1857 to 1859. He was born in Pomfret, Vermont, on 6 July 1821 and died in Boston on 22 February 1883. 

This information has been summarized from Boston Lithography 1825–1880 by Sally Pierce and Catharina Slautterback. 

Provenance (Information known to date; research ongoing.)

See IMPRESSIONS tab for provenance.

Exhibition History

1966 DeCordova Museum: DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, Massachusetts, Fitz Hugh Lane: The First Major Exhibition, no. 74. [Impression: The Mariners' Museum (inv. 414)].
2017–18 Cape Ann Museum: Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, Massachusetts, Drawn From Nature & on Stone: The Lithographs of Fitz Henry Lane [Impression: American Antiquarian Society (inv. 362)].

Published References

: fig. 4, View of New Bedford: From the Fort near Fairhaven.
Wilmerding 1963: "The Lithographs of Fitz Hugh Lane," p. 37, New Bedford from the Fort near Fairhaven.
American Neptune 1965: The American Neptune, Pictorial Supplement VII: A Selection of Marine Paintings by Fitz Hugh Lane, 1804–1865, plate VI, no. 172, View of New Bedford from the Fort Near Fairhaven. [Impression: The Mariners' Museum (inv. 414)]. ⇒ includes text
Wilmerding 1966a: Fitz Hugh Lane: The First Major Exhibition, no. 74. [Impression: The Mariners' Museum (inv. 414)]. ⇒ includes text
New Bedford 1975: New Bedford and Old Dartmouth: A Portrait of a Region's Past, fig.104, p.125. [Impression: New Bedford Whaling Museum (inv. 606)].
Reps 1984: Views and Viewmakers of Urban America: Lithographs of Towns and Cities in the United States and Canada, Notes on the Artists and Publishers, and a Union Catalog of their Work,1825-1925, no. 1552, p.339.
Ingalls 1987: Whaling Prints in the Francis B. Lothrop Collection, no. 258, p. 131. [Impression: New Bedford Whaling Museum (inv. 608)].
Cape Ann Museum 2017: Drawn from Nature & on Stone: the Lithographs of Fitz Henry Lane, fig. 54, text, p. 30, View of New Bedford: From the Fort near Fairhaven. [Impression: American Antiquarian Society (inv. 362)]. ⇒ includes text
Barnhill 2021: "Fitz Henry Lane and Coastal New England," fig. 6. ⇒ includes text

Impression information

American Antiquarian Society (inv. 362)

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Photo: Courtesy, American Antiquarian Society (inv. 362)
Printed under image from left to right: F. H. Lane, del. from a sketch by A. Conant. Published by A. Conant. Lane & Scott's Lith. Tremnt Temple, Boston. / VIEW OF NEW BEDFORD. / From the Fort near Fairhaven. / Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1845 by A. Conant in the clerk's office of the District Court of Massachusetts.
American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. (395621)

Boston Athenaeum (inv. 517)

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Photo: Boston Athenaeum (inv. 517)
View of New Bedford, From the Fort Near Fairhaven
Printed under image left to right: F.H. Lane del., from sketch by A. Conant, Published by Albert Conant, Lane & Scott's Lith., Tremont Temple, Boston.
Boston Athenaeum
Provenance

The Mariners' Museum (inv. 414)

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Photo: Mariners' Museum (inv. 414)
View of New Bedford from the Fort Near Fairhaven
Signed lower center: VIEW OF NEW BEDFORD/ From the Fort near Fairhaven./ F.H. Lane del, from a sketch by A. Conant/ Lane & Scott's Lith. Tremont Temple, Boston/ Entered According to act of Congress in the year 1845 by A. Conant in the clerk's office of the District Court of Massachusetts/ Published by A. Conant.
Courtesy of The Mariners' Museum, Newport News, Virginia (1934.1144.000001 / LP 0017)

New Bedford Whaling Museum (inv. 606)

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Photo: New Bedford Whaling Museum (inv. 606)
View of New Bedford From the Fort Near Fairhaven
Signed: F. H. Lane, del. from a sketch by A. Conant. Published by A. Conant.
New Bedford Whaling Museum, Mass. (2001.100.6972)

New Bedford Whaling Museum (inv. 607)

no image available
View of New Bedford. From the Fort Near Fairhaven
Signed: F. H. Lane, del. from a sketch by A. Conant. Published by A. Conant. Lane & Scott's Lith. Tremnt Temple, Boston. Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1845 by A. Conant in the clerk's office of the District Court of Massachusetts.
New Bedford Whaling Museum, Mass. (2001.100.6971)

New Bedford Whaling Museum (inv. 608)

no image available
View of New Bedford from the Fort Near Fairhaven
Signed: F.H. Lane, del from a sketch by A. Conant. Published by A. Conant Lane & Scott's Lith. Tremont Temple, Boston. Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1845 by A. Conant in the clerk's office of the District Court of Massachusetts.
New Bedford Whaling Museum, Mass. (1981.6)

New Bedford Whaling Museum (inv. 609)

no image available
View of New Bedford - From the Fort Near Fairhaven
Signed: F. H. Lane del. from a sketch by A. Conant. Published by A. Conant.
New Bedford Whaling Museum, Mass. (1964.78)

Peabody Essex Museum (inv. 666)

no image available
F.H. Lane det. From a sketch by A. Conant. Published by A. Conant Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1845 by A. Conant in the clerk's office of the District Court of Massachusetts. Lane & Scott's Lith. Tremont Temple, Boston.
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass., Gift of Mrs. Warren R. Green

Peabody Essex Museum (inv. 667)

no image available
F.H. Lane det. From a sketch by A. Conant. Published by A. Conant Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1845 by A. Conant in the clerk's office of the District Court of Massachusetts. Lane & Scott's Lith. Tremont Temple, Boston.
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass., Gift of Mrs. Francis B. Lothrop (M21757)

Private collection (inv. 62)

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Photo: Minnesota Marine Art Museum (inv. 62)
View of New Bedford from the Fort Near Fairhaven
Printed under image from left to right: F. H. Lane, del. from a sketch by A. Conant. Published by A. Conant. Lane & Scott's Lith. Tremnt Temple, Boston. / VIEW OF NEW BEDFORD. / From the Fort near Fairhaven. / Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1845 by A. Conant in the clerk's office of the District Court of Massachusetts.
Private Collection, On loan to Minnesota Marine Art Museum, Winona

Yale University Art Gallery (inv. 313)

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Photo: Yale University Art Gallery (inv. 313)
View of New Bedford / From the Fort Near Fairhaven
Printed under image from left to right: F. H. Lane, del. from a sketch by A. Conant. Published by A. Conant. Lane & Scott's Lith. Tremnt Temple, Boston. / VIEW OF NEW BEDFORD. / From the Fort near Fairhaven. / Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1845 by A. Conant in the clerk's office of the District Court of Massachusetts.
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., Mabel Brady Garvan Collection (1946.9.1882)

Related historical materials

Other Locales
Vessels (Specific / Named)
Vessel Types
Flags, Lighthouses, & Navigation Aids
Maritime & Other Industries & Facilities
Lithography
Contemporary Artists
Citation: "View of New Bedford: From the Fort near Fairhaven, 1845 (inv. 439)." Fitz Henry Lane Online. Cape Ann Museum. http://fitzhenrylaneonline.org/catalog/entry.php?id=439 (accessed March 29, 2024).
Record last updated February 11, 2016. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
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