Sean Garwood · 'A Painted Voyage'

Sean Garwood

A Painted Voyage 20 November - 12 December

Jonathan Grant Galleries 280 Parnell Rd Parnell Auckland New Zealand Ph: +64 9 308 9125 Email: jg@jgg.co.nz www.jgg.co.nz

Illustrated cover: Queens Wharf Auckland, 1904 Oil on canvas 75 x 120 cm

All works are available for sale upon receipt of this catalogue. The entire exhibition can be viewed at www.jgg.co.nz

Early Golden Years Waka and sailing ships, Golden Bay, 1843 Oil on canvas 60 x 100 cm Signed

By 1843 a vigorous trade existed between Europeans and local Māori, including large topsail schooners reaching as far as Australia. Two such schooners are seen here, sheltering behind the Tata Islands in Golden Bay, reprovisioning with food and water. Traditionally, large sea going waka carried woven square rigged sails but with European influence, a foresail was added over the prow of the canoe. It was also more practical to use canvas and reefing points could be sewn into the sails.

These waka plied their trade with Europeans between Golden Bay, D’Urville Island, Marlborough Sounds and Cook Strait. For example, in 1844 when the NZ Company settlement scheme in Nelson was bankrupt, settlers ran out of food and Māori sailed into Auckland Point with kumara, potatoes and other commodities to help the starving settlers of Nelson.

Tamati Pirimona Marino was a highly respected chief of Golden Bay who owned several European vessels including the Erena (named after his wife). This was the first known Māori-owned European vessel of any size (circa 34 feet) and described as a square stern clincher schooner, built at Motupipi in 1845.

Whaling off Cloudy Bay from the ‘Charles W. Morgan 1852 Oil on canvas 70 x 110 cm Signed

The morning breaks and the sea mist is clearing in Cloudy Bay, Cook Strait. The American whaling ship Charles W. Morgan is laid to with her whaling boats embarking for the first kill of the day.

The harpooner is positioned and poised, ready to strike one of many Southern Right Whales that are passing through Cook Strait.

Known for being extremely slow swimmers, the Southern Right Whales were hunted to near extinction. This method of whaling was known as Bay Whaling and common throughout New Zealand, as opposed to deep water whaling where the whalers were in pursuit of the more lucrative, but dangerous, mighty Sperm Whale.

The Immigrants, onboard ‘Mataura’ abeam of the Snares on passage from England to New Zealand, 1879 Oil on canvas 85 x 120 cm Signed

The year is 1879 and the Mataura is rounding the Snares, 87 days after departing Gravesend, London, with another cargo of hopeful immigrants. She’s a full-rigged ship of 853 tons and the first NZ Shipping Co ship to be fitted with Harkin’s dry-air refrigerator.

Mataura will arrive in Port Chalmers on the 22nd September 1879. She is running before a strong South Westerly and shaping a course up the East coast of the South Island to Port Chalmers.

Snares Islands/Tini Heke, also known as The Snares, is a small group of uninhabited islands lying about 200 km south of New Zealand’s South Island and to the south-southwest of Stewart Island/ Rakiura.

The ‘Thermopylae’ departing Lyttelton, 1885 Oil on canvas 70 x 100 cm Signed

The famous crack clipper Thermopylae built in 1868 was designed for the China tea trade. She is regarded as one of the fastest clippers, setting numerous record passages, averaging 63 days from London to Melbourne and was the Cutty Sark’s nemesis.

In her later years in the 1880s she carried wool from Sydney and Melbourne. It was during this period that she made a quick visit to Lyttelton with a cargo of coal from Newcastle while waiting for a wool cargo. She arrived in Lyttelton 9th April 1885.

The painting depicts the Thermopylae just off Godley Heads departing Lyttelton with the Union Steamship steam passenger vessel Rotomahana also departing. The paddle steam tug Lyttelton is bearing away after assisting the Thermopylae. It’s rather ironical that she was carrying coal, which ultimately lead to her own demise.

Port Chalmers getting established, 1850 Oil on canvas 70 x 110 cm Signed

Port Chalmers, with neighbouring Careys Bay, Sawyers Bay and Roseneath is 14 km north-east of Dunedin, on the north side of Otago Harbour.

The locality, known to Māori as Kōpūtai, is where local Ngāi Tahu sold the Otago block to the New Zealand Company in 1844. A European town was founded there when Otago was settled in 1848. It was named after Thomas Chalmers, the Free Church of Scotland leader who had died the previous year.

The Union Steam Ship Company started there in 1875, and one early building – a pumphouse – still survives to this day at Port Chalmers.

The ‘Dunedin’ moored in Port Chalmers, 1877 Oil on canvas 70 x 110 cm Signed

The Dunedin on an early winters’ morning moored at Port Chalmers is awaiting loading in 1877. The Dunedin was the first vessel to transport frozen meat which revolutionised the exporting of New Zealand’s primary products, giving a huge boost to the country’s farming community.

The Dunedin was one of four Auckland class vessels owned by the Shaw Savill Albion Line.

Also featured in the painting is the first graving dock, that was built to service the increase in shipping that came about with the Otago gold rush bringing in more immigrant ships. In the foreground boat building is underway in Careys Bay.

The ‘Felicity’ and the Blind Bay Hookers, 1889 Oil on canvas 75 x 105 cm Signed

The Hookers were Nelson’s ‘mosquito fleet’ of little sailing vessels that played a vital role in the first century of the country’s European settlement, not only in Blind Bay (the original name of Tasman Bay) but around the whole top of the South Island and across Cook Strait.

Felicity is the vessel closest on the left. The scene is Port Nelson on a sunny and warm Sunday afternoon during the late 1800s. The Hookers are drying their sails. The middle vessel is Planet which is being towed out by two dinghies to begin her voyage. You can see her sails are hauled tight whereas the other two vessels have their sails slack drying in the warm sun.

Kauri Country, logging ships in Kaipara Harbour, 1890 Oil on canvas 70 x 100 cm Signed

From the early 1800s sailing ships had appeared in the Kaipara looking for kauri logs suitable for making spars.

This painting depicts a typical barquentine, similar to the Waitemata, loading Kauri logs destined for Australia.

This jetty was one of many along the Northen Wairoa in Kaipara Harbour.

In 1879 the first ship was recorded sailing over the bar. As the Kaipara developed and timber mills flourished, timber (both sawn and logs) and kauri gum were all carried by ship. At the height of the timber trade as many as twenty-six ships left the harbour on one tide in the course of a day, all carrying timber from mills around the shores of the harbour.

Of the thousands of ships that came in and out of the entrance, at least forty-five were wrecked, the remains of some of them showing up from time to time in the shifting sands.

Lyttelton Port from Norwich Quay, 1892 Oil on canvas 70 x 100 cm Signed

Lyttelton Harbour, a drowned volcanic cone on the east coast, is the port to the largest South Island city, Christchurch, which is minutes away by road or rail. Christchurch has been an important trade centre on the fertile Canterbury Plains which extend south towards Timaru since William and John Deans settled at Riccarton Bush about 1843. They named the Avon after a river in their native Scotland.

Lyttelton was gazetted as an official port-of-entry on 30th August 1849 and was renamed nine years later in honour of Lord George Lyttelton, who was chairman of the Canterbury Association.

The painting highlights the excitement and social gatherings during vessel arrivals and departures. The ships became celebrities and household names. Shipping movements were gazetted with much anticipation.

Queens Wharf Auckland, 1904 Oil on canvas 75 x 120 cm Signed

Where Queens Wharf now stands was originally known as Horotiu, the name of the taniwha (a legendary water creature) which played in the area. It was a popular food gathering spot for Māori.

It later became known as Commercial Bay, where boats arrived laden with both immigrants and goods from the other side of the world. Initially, the early harbour facilities suffered from the tidal mudflats that made establishing good wharves difficult. In 1852 the new 1400-foot timber Queens Wharf was built to handle the increasing trade.

This painting depicts early morning hustle and bustle of loading and unloading cargo. The square rigged sailing ships graced the wharf with their towering masts and long bowsprits and jib booms that spanned over the wharf.

The vessels alongside are the Craig Line Jessie Craig to the left and a New Zealand Shipping Company vessel is berthed to the right.

The ‘Duchess’ in Wellington, 1910 Oil on canvas 45 x 80 cm Signed

In this painting the Eastbourne ferry Duchess is arriving at the ferry terminal Wellington. It is a clear early morning and the painting suggests the hustle and bustle of Wellington harbour and the importance that the local ferry service played transporting people around the harbour region.

It was the excitement, the social interaction and the very lifeline to all the coastal communities. The scene in the painting is looking towards the Harbour Board building and one of the Craig Line vessels being towed out of her berth by the tug Natone.

The ‘Pamir’ taking a line from ‘William C Daldy’ Auckland, 1942 Oil on canvas 50 x 80 cm Signed

Five days after its arrival in Wellington Harbour, the four-masted barque Pamir was seized in prize by the New Zealand government, which regarded Finland as ‘territory in enemy occupation’ (Finland had joined Nazi Germany’s invasion of their mutual enemy, the Soviet Union, but was not formally a member of the Axis powers).

Pamir was seized as prize by the Collector of Customs (Mr R. J. Gray) on 3rd August, 1941. Notice was served on Captain Bjorkfelt at 4.45pm that afternoon. The Pamir remains the only ‘enemy’ vessel ever to be seized by New Zealand and, as such, has immense historical significance.

Due to wartime shipping shortages, the barque was pressed into service as a New Zealand merchant vessel, mainly carrying wool and tallow to San Francisco and Vancouver. She was taken under the care of various official bodies and became the subject of legal issues for almost 5 months from the time of her seizure. As such, she was not legally released to the Crown until just over five months later on 9th December, 1941 and it was not until early February of the following year that she was prepared to take on her first New Zealand crew.

Pilot boat ‘Koputai’ passing Taiaroa Lighthouse, 1942 Oil on canvas 60 x 100 cm Signed

The iconic lighthouse at Taiaroa Heads lighthouse was built in 1865. The painting depicts the Dunedin pilot boat Koputai heading out to embark the pilot on a steam vessel arriving at the pilot station. The full moon highlights the rugged coast line of Otago Peninsula.

The lighthouse serves to landmark coastal hazards such as capes and peninsulas and enables safe navigation around these potential hazards.

The first pilot boats to operate out of Otago were whale boats in 1863. These light narrow boats were rowed and sailed out to Taiaroa Heads to rendezvous with the vessel. The pilot boat is the true hero; operating in challenging conditions, enabling the pilot to board the vessel and proceed with the safe passage into the port.

The Nimrod Expedition departing Lyttelton, New Year’s Day, 1908 Oil on canvas 70 x 105 cm Signed

The painting depicts the scene of Shackleton’s British Antarctic Expedition, which was otherwise known as the Nimrod Expedition departing Lyttelton on regatta day, 1st January 1908.

The tug Lyttelton is steaming ahead of Nimrod and escorting her down to Godley Heads. The Nimrod departed at 1600 hrs on a fine sunny day with a moderate north westerly wind which provided idyllic conditions for this festive occasion. Thousands of well wishers lined up around Lyttelton harbour and the shore to witness this historic occasion. A flotilla of boats followed her out through the harbour.

Bailey’s Boatbuilders Freeman’s Bay, Auckland, 1894 Oil on canvas 60 x 100 cm Signed

One of New Zealand’s earliest boat builders was Charles Bailey, later called senior when his son of the same name entered the trade. Charles Bailey’s yard was in Customs Street. His brother Walter’s yard was a short distance away in Freeman’s Bay. Both were riding the wave of demand for new launches.

Two families; Bailey and Logan between them completely dominated New Zealand yachting for a period of 70 years from 1870s to the 1940s. Even today their influence on yacht design and construction is evident. Both families had the advantage of numerous sons to carry on the family legacy of building fast yachts

‘Viking’, Bailey’s Masterpiece, 1914 Oil on canvas 70 x 110 cm Signed

Viking is the largest surviving early racing yacht in New Zealand. Designed and built in 1893 by Bailey’s Boatbuilders Auckland for the wealthy Bloomfield brothers, Jack, Harry and Ernest and for more than 40 years was the largest yacht in New Zealand. She is widely regarded as Bailey’s Masterpiece.

The painting depicts Viking in full flight smoking past North Head in 1914. She is pinching up into a fresh south westerly breeze. The Logan designed and built launch Doreen is rounding up into the wind allowing the famous Auckland yachting photographer Henry Winkelmann to take a photo.

‘Jessie Logan’ racing in Tasman Bay, 1902 Oil on canvas 70 x 100 cm Signed

The painting has Jessie Logan racing in Tasman Bay adjacent to the Boulder Bank, Nelson. She has a moderate sea breeze heading up to the top mark where she is just bearing away with Oyster in pursuit. The Nelson Lighthouse and light-keepers buildings can be seen on the left. She is seen here in 1902 before the The Cut was opened in 1906 to allow shipping to enter Port Nelson through the Boulder Bank without going around Haulashore Island.

Jessie Logan is the oldest ‘purpose built gaff rig racing yacht’ in the world and is still racing to this day. She was built in his Devonport waterfront yard by Robert Logan Senior in December 1879 - January 1880 to compete in the Auckland Anniversary Regatta that year.

Jessie Logan was again successful in Wellington despite her real unsuitability for Wellington Harbour with her low freeboard, lightweight and extreme rig. In January 1892 she was sold to Nelson where she was raced for another thirteen years under progressively reduced rigs. By 1905 she had become outclassed and was converted to a launch.

She then spent the next 75 years in all sorts of menial tasks as an oil launch. After 1918 she was servicing soldier settlements and taking children to school in Pelorus Sound, for example. Adrian Hayter, the famous yachtsman and circumnavigator used her for fishing out of Nelson for some years. In the 1980s she came ashore in a storm at Nelson and became badly damaged.

Mullet boat ‘Celox’ racing in the Hauraki Gulf, 1914 Oil on canvas 70 x 100 cm Signed

Here we have the 26’ Mullet boat Celox thundering down the Hauraki Gulf running under spinnaker before a south westerly in 1914. A steamer is heading down the channel towards North Head and into Auckland harbour.

The painting has the viewer looking from another vessel as can be seen by the bow wave at bottom left. The painting illustrates the enormous spread of canvas these stout vessels carried. The other two Mullet boats behind Celox are also racing. Celox was built by Logan Brothers in 1908. Noted for her speed, over time she accumulated a very impressive racing history.

Mullet boats began life sometime in the 1880s as fishing smacks with retractable keels and shallow draft so they could easily sidle deep into the estuaries of the Waitemata Harbour to ply their trade. The lack of refrigeration made them fast - the quickest boat would have the freshest catch for the fish markets at the bottom of Queen St. As recreational sailing became more popular at the beginning of the 20th century, prize money and gambling took off, attracting more mullet boats to the weekend regattas and fuelling refinements in design. Fierce rivalries developed, often spilling off the boats and into the yacht clubs afterwards.

The ‘Mapourika’ crossing the Grey River Bar, 1898 Oil on canvas 60 x 100 cm Signed

The Union Steam Ship Company coastal steamer Mapourika is depicted here departing Greymouth and steaming out over the Grey River bar in the late afternoon 1898. The tide is ebbing, as can be seen by the brown fresh water flowing out through the river mouth which is creating breaking surf like waves as it flows into the Tasman sea swells.

The Mapourika foundered the same year after the master lost steerage of his ship due to a large wave that pooped the vessel while entering the Grey River. The combination of tidal flows, wind and ocean swells can create some very challenging conditions for masters to navigate.

The West Coast of New Zealand is notorious for it’s river mouth bars that flow into the hostile Tasman Sea. This combination of tidal flows, wind and ocean swells create very challenging conditions for masters to navigate.

However the West coast towns and ports were essential for New Zealand’s trade and survival.

The ‘Tamahine’ entering Tory Channel, 1926 Oil on canvas 60 x 100 cm Signed

The Tamahine or Tam as she was affectionally known is steaming into Tory Channel ahead of a Southerly storm during the afternoon.

Built for the Union Steamship company in 1925 she was the first ferry built exclusively for the Wellington to Picton run. She was an extraordinary vessel completing over 1,500 trips across the strait.

Because of New Zealand’s unique geographical feature of being long and skinny, ferries were such an important component in our progress as a nation and of course the connection between the islands.

Fiordland Cray Fishing, 2016 Oil on canvas 65 x 105 cm Signed

If one particular sector of the New Zealand fishing industry stands out as being unique, it would be the Fiordland crayfishermen. Due to the remoteness, this industry is far from the public eye. The Fiordland coast takes the full force of the mighty Southern Ocean slamming into it like a brick wall. The huge swells that carry through thousands of miles have no mercy on tiny vessels that fish these hostile waters.

The Tamahine is working her pots very close to the Fiordland coast in the face of a strong South Westerly. The swirling fog creates patches of sunlight that dances on the water. Skippers exercise extreme skill to position there vessels as close as they dare to the rocks and shallow reefs.

HMS ‘Achilles’ in the Battle of the River Plate, 1939 Oil on canvas 65 x 100 cm Signed

The painting depicts the HMS Achilles engaging the infamous German pocket battleship Graff Spee. She is turning to starboard to commence firing. The time is 0650 hrs with visibility clear and a fresh south easterly wind blowing.

Both Achilles and Ajax are steaming line ahead while maintaining a north westerly course. A Leander class light cruiser, HMS (later HMNZS) Achilles displaced 7270 tons, measured 555 feet and was capable of 32 knots. More than half the crew were New Zealanders.

The Battle of the River Plate was the first Naval battle in World War Two, taking place on 13th December 1939.

SEAN GARWOOD Nelson based artist Sean Garwood was born in England and grew up in Western Australia. From a young age Sean was influenced by his father’s highly successful full-time painting career. Growing up on the coast near the Port town of Fremantle Western Australia and motivated by his father’s success, Sean would spend many hours sketching amongst Fremantle’s rich maritime heritage.

During this time his father was exhibiting his work throughout Australia and later New Zealand. Thoughts of becoming a full-time artist like his father were put on hold as the natural progression of a boyhood dream to become a Ship’s Master became a reality. After arriving in New Zealand at the age of 15 it took him only 6 years to become the youngest New Zealand Deep Sea Master at only 21 and at the age of 25 he was in command of a deep-sea trawler, with a crew of 45.

Sean gave up his career at sea in 2005 to follow his dream of becoming an artist like his father.

Sean developed his own style of realism and with his abiding affection for the sea it was only natural that he would gravitate to marine subjects. He is meticulous in researching historical subjects, ensuring every detail of a ship’s rigging, the direction of wind and tide are all accurate. Sean’s experience and understanding the sea is clearly evident in his work and it has led him to become one of our foremost marine artists.

Sean’s relationship to the sea is deep rooted and his experience as a sea captain in the Southern Ocean has given him an insight to life at sea that few marine artists could ever have. Sean’s background has given him a unique combination of experience and skills exactly suited to him becoming a marine painter.

Being an island nation at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean nearly 2000 kilometres from the nearest land mass, New Zealand naturally has a rich maritime history. Maritime activity in New Zealand waters has changed dramatically since the first Polynesian mariners arrived here centuries ago. The first Europeans to set foot on Aotearoa was over 250 years ago, and it was the colonisation of the country that brought the biggest increase in maritime activity.

Much of life in this country continues to be been shaped by our geographical isolation. Our link to the outside world was solely via the sea until the advent of air travel in the 1950’s. Virtually all of our exports and imports are still transported by sea. The whole economy of the country has depended on maritime industry to get it moving and keep it progressing. In the series of paintings by Sean Garwood, featured in this publication, you will be able to follow the remarkable story of New Zealand’s maritime history. This whole exercise has been an amazing feat for Sean to achieve, representing many years of painstaking research, drawing and painting subjects for which he has a real affinity. This collection of paintings is undoubtedly the most comprehensive series on this subject to be produced by a single artist.

J O N AT H A N G R A N T G A L L E RY 280 Parnell Road Auckland New Zealand Ph: +64 9 308 9125 jg@jggco.nz www.jgg..co.nz