Chapelle quotes a contemporary British intelligence report which record s an Indian figureh ead with bow and arrow in hand "painted white, red and yellow," and the peculiarity of a mast in lieu of the stern ensign staff with a small la teen sail an d o utrigged spar. So far as I can ascertain no drau ghts or illustrations exist of the ship, either in American or British se rvice, and so I drew on record s of other existing Continental frigates (for exa mple Hancock as drawn in the Admiralty draught, which was built a t the same yard) for the painting reproduced here.
The Lovely Baltimore Clipper Grecian, 1812
Grecian was ac knowledged one of th e most beautiful sc hooners afloat, as can be seen from a nice little waterline model in The Mariners Museum . She was a prime example of the fabled Baltimore C lipper, built in Baltimore at th e Thomas Kemp shipyard in 1812 specifically, one assumes, for blockade-runnin g with a little pri va teering (which as well as patriotic could be ex tremely profit a ble) on the side. She was a notably fas t sa iler with low bulwark s a nd thus curi ously arched rails over th e gunports, nine pe r side. No details exist of her two-yea r commission-
Th e small fr igate Boston puts to sea, at the outset of her career f ighting and running away. She was caught three years later where her nimble heels could no! save her.
ing, but she was carrying a ca rgo of fl o ur for C uba when captured in th e Chesapeake in May 1814 by boats from the 18- g un bri g -s loop HMS Jaseur. Chapelle's The Search For Speed Under Sail and The Baltimore Clippers give d etailed hull plans from the Admiralty drau ght s and a lso a sailplan reconstructi on typical for th e class which is used in the pa inting. The Grecian was a pleasure to draw since not only is she beautiful in her ow n right and a challenge to depict, b ut unu sual as subj ect matter. Indeed, st riv-
The most American of ships, th e Baltimore clippers like Grecian flourished only in dangerous trades, being wet, weatherly and almost
ing for realistic impression of what all these famous ships must have looked like has give n immense pleasure, and it is hoped the resulting pictures will be of interest to readers, since in so many cases eyewitness illustrat ions of th e actua l events are non-existent.
w
NOTE: The a rtist wishes fully to ack nowledge his gra titud e to th e au thors and museums mentioned herein. From the staff a nd curato rs of the latter he has had nothi ng but the most wi lling and helpful co-operati o n.
supernaturally fast. See Melbourne Smith's article, this issue, on the comet-like passage of !his lype across our skies.