Catalog entry

Commentary

Twilight on the Kennebec is one of two Lane paintings that are particularly informative about lumber brigs as opposed to lumber schooners, which were a more common craft. View of Southwest Harbor, Maine: Entrance to Somes Sound, 1852 (inv. 260) depicts the loading of a lumber brig—they were actually half brigs—while anchored in Southwest Harbor, Maine.

This is one of Lane’s earliest depictions of Maine. It is not a coastal scene but shows the lower Kennebec River, a tidal river from its mouth to as far north as Augusta. Five miles above Bath, it turns westward through a narrow strait, The Chops, and enters Merrymeeting Bay before resuming its northward course. Just east and south of The Chops, the Kennebec widens, creating an archipelago with a cluster of then-forested islands of variable size, some very small. North of the largest—Lines Island—is one of the smallest, lying a few hundred yards from the east riverbank. This seems the likeliest setting for Lane’s painting, looking westward to a small wooded island which obscures West Chops Point. At the right margin is seen a northbound steamer as it passes through the rough water which gave The Chops its name.

In Lane’s painting, the tide has ebbed, and a half brig (or lumber brig, in this instance) lies grounded in the shallow water. Her sails are hanging in the gear—partially hoisted—with the square sails clewed-up and hanging in loose bights. Maine’s cool, summer night air will bring on a heavy morning dew that will soak the sails, leading to mildew unless they are partially set—as depicted—so the canvas can ventilate and dry.

In the painting’s right foreground, a log raft lies aground on the riverbank with a small boat (probably the brig’s yawl boat) alongside. When the tide is rising, the raft will be loaded with milled lumber (boards) and floated over to the brig (with the aid of poles and the yawl boat) for loading. As in View of Southwest Harbor, Maine: Entrance to Somes Sound, 1852 (inv. 260), the brig’s hold will be loaded through a bow port, the boards being too long to be passed down through the hatch on deck.

Once the hold is filled, raft-loads of lumber will be brought alongside and carefully stowed on deck. All deck space, rail to rail, from main mast to fore mast, will be carefully stacked with lumber to a height of six feet or more. Due to its exposed location, the deck load must be secured with boards and lashings to prevent shifting and loss of cargo in heavy weather.

In the island’s shadow lies a coasting sloop, its sails also hanging in the gear but otherwise offering no clues to its reason for anchoring there. As a major passageway to Maine’s interior, the Kennebec River provided a setting for many vessel types, from many of New England’s coastal regions.

– Erik Ronnberg