Catalog entry

Commentary

This lithograph was drawn and published by Lane (as indicated on some impressions of the print), and printed by Lane & Scott.

A Visual Guide to the Lithograph

Lane’s second lithograph of Gloucester Harbor focused on the community surrounding Harbor Cove and vessel activity related thereto. His vantage point, Rocky Neck, put him at half the elevation of his 1836 lithograph View of the Town of Gloucester, Mass., 1836 (inv. 437) and half the distance from Harbor Cove. He also narrowed the angle of view from ninety-two degrees in the 1836 version to eighty-two degrees in the second. The combined effects of these changes more than doubled Harbor Cove’s portion of the image.

Due to the lower viewing point, the harbor skyline is compressed into the bottom third of the image, creating a complex overlapping of buildings and harbor infrastructure. Some buildings and landmarks are completely hidden, while the vessels in the harbor required judicious placement if they were not to second an important building in the background. Was there some previous situation like this where Lane learned to paint port scenery, omitting vessels until he decided which background subjects were important not to hide?

Viewpoint map showing Lane's position when creating this image 

In this second lithograph, Lane focused much more intensely on the buildings and his method of depicting them. His previous print has their roofs and siding outlined by planes of various shades, not by lines. In this view, the buildings are depicted by lines with only light shading for roofs and sides in shadow. Only windows and small doors are in solid black.

The foreground of this view serves to give a sense of depth to an image whose activity and detail are quite distant. The three figures, front and center, reinforce this effect by comparison with the passengers on the steamship who are reduced to specks of ink. No figures are visible among the buildings in the background.

Key to lithograph

The entrance channel to Gloucester’s Inner Harbor, then known as The Stream (1), occupies the middle ground. It served as an anchorage for large vessels that had to wait for high tide before coming to wharfside in Harbor Cove, and as secure anchorage for any vessel in heavy weather.

Gloucester’s foreign trade, particularly with Surinam, was prospering and employing small ships and barks, including her famous “Surinam brigs.” These vessels brought home many exotic wares as well as household staples. The anchored merchant ship (2) is a good representative of this trading activity.

In a period of nationwide expansion of industry and competition from foreign industry, protective tariffs were vigorously enforced to the benefit of domestic production. On the front line of enforcement was the United States Revenue Service, whose cutters were authorized to board and inspect inbound vessels to ensure that imported goods were accurately accounted for and tariffs duly paid. Anchored near the merchant ship is a schooner-rigged revenue cutter (3), which is either making an in-port inspection or having related business with customs officials ashore.

The half brig under sail (4) is probably in the packet trade, carrying goods and a few passengers to and from ports along the coast—ranging from the Canadian Maritime Provinces to the West Indies—following scheduled sailings to specific ports. The gallery lights in the stern are indicators of this service; the square-rigged fore mast is characteristic of coasting vessels making long passages farther offshore.

The schooner rig was standard for vessels working on distant fishing grounds, the two marked (5) being larger examples. The two smaller schooners (6) were suited for shorter trips to grounds in the Gulf of Maine.

The small rowing boat (7) is probably a wherry, which was shaped like a dory, but with a wider stern. This example is probably being used for recreation, given its small size. 

The only identified vessel is the side-wheel steamship “Yacht” (8), which, contrary to her name, initiated commercial steamship service between Boston and Gloucester. This 1846 lithograph also dates the earliest appearance in Gloucester of the steamship "Yacht," a year prior to that given in recent published accounts.

Harbor Cove was by far the busiest part of Gloucester’s Inner Harbor. Its entrance is marked by Fort Point and the remains of Fort Defiance on the left (9), and by Duncan’s Point and Frederick G. Low’s wharf on the right (10). Harbor Rock and its platform (11) lie just beyond.

Pearce’s Wharf (12) and the brig tied up to it mark the entrance to Vincent’s Cove. On the hill beyond lies the Methodist Church (13). This hill was largely settled by Portuguese immigrants in the second half of the nineteenth century, earning it the name “Portuguese Hill.”

Harbor Cove– a Closer View

Lane’s drawing technique for this lithograph permitted very precise depictions of Harbor Cove’s wharves and buildings, allowing many of them to be identified using contemporary maps and charts. Many more buildings could be identified, given time and close study of city documents.

– Erik Ronnberg

1. Ignatius Webber’s windmill, then no longer working. It was moved to George H. Rogers’ wharf, ca. 1850, where it appears in Lane’s painting Gloucester Inner Harbor, 1850 (inv. 240).
   
   
2. Fort Defiance, much of whose brickwork and stonework was still intact.
   
   
3. Residence of Charles F. Hovey, built in 1845.
   
   
4. Wooden building, date of construction unknown, identified as a bowling alley on a map of Gloucester dated 1850.
   
   
5. Wharf of John W. Lowe.
   
   
6. Wharf of J. J. Procter.
   
   
7. Wharves of Mansfield & Son.
   
   
8. Central Wharf.
   
   
9. Gaffney’s Wharf.
   
   
10. Wharves of George H. Rogers.
    
    
11. Universalist Church.
    
    
12. Residence of Benjamin K. Hough (built for John and Judith Sargent Stevens, 1770).
    
    
13. Collins School (first of two built on this site).
    
    
14. Congregational Church.
    
    
15. Gloucester House.

16.  Wharf of John Somes.

17.  Wharf of William Collins.

18.  Wharf of Frederick G. Low.

19.  Wharf of Frederick G. Low.

20.  Duncan’s Point Rocks.

21.  Wharf of Frederick G. Low and Eli  Stacy.

22.  Pearce’s Wharf.

23.  Harbor Rock.

24.  Unitarian Church.

25.  Residence of Dr. Herman E. Davidson (later Sawyer Free Library).

26.  Baptist Church.

1851 Walling map showing location of wharves in Harbor Cove

Related Work in the Catalog

Supplementary Images