" First Announcement of Nautilus 1952 , " casein on Board, 24 112" x 21 112 ". The world 's first view of a nuclear ship was painted from blueprints more than a year before launch.
Above, ''Harder Hunts the Subhunters and the Fleet," ink wash on board, 16112"x13 !4 ". The Harder's assigned mission for her fifth patrol was to retrieve six British coast watchers in Borneo. En route past the Imperial Navy anchorage, she torpedoed five destroyers, including two with one spread on 9 June 1944. Th e Harder 's frequent attacks du ring this 38-day patrol, often called " the most brilliant of the war, " so frightened Admiral Toyoda that he ordered premature departure of his fleet (reported by the Harder), upsetting Japanese battle plans and contributing to their stunning defeat in the Philippine Sea. The Harder was sunk by depth charges on her next patrol.
Below, Tirante In The Anchorage,'' ink wash on board, 16112 "x 13 !4 ". Th e Japanese Merchant Marine was decimated by 1945 and targets fo r submarines became hard to find . On 14 April 1945, the Tirante entered an anchorage in " home waters" to sink fi ve ships, and continued into Quelpart Harbor through water too shallow to allow diving, to sink another tanker. Skipper G.L. Street at the periscope compares observations with Executive Office r E. L. Beach at the radar and with the sonar man behind him , and shouts directions to the man crouched with a hand bearing calculator, and the man relaying orders to the torpedo room.
In his " retirement" (at the drawing board only six hours every day), Freeman has enjoyed researching events in early naval history. Time-Life Books commissioned a painting of the first major naval engagement, the battle between the invading Persian fleet and Greek triremes at Salamis . Freeman ' s research to confirm that his design for a trireme would work so interested the editors , they published his sketches as well. He is now actively working on a series of reconstruction paintings for the National Park Service. In a recent painting , Freeman recreated an entire coastal fort and village of 1743 , building by building , where there are only cellar holes and ruins now. His unique compositional solution to relating past to present " will revolutionize the interpretation of historic ruins," predicts the Chief of Graphics for the Park Service. Another painting in the same series portrays the Charlestown Navy Yard , home of USS Constitution. When history is studied for recreation, there is a natural tendency to prefer sunny days , light breezes and bustling ports. In this fashion , the buyers of "historical reconstruction " paintings can innocently distort the artistic record of maritime history. At 76 , Fred Freeman is a softspoken , courtly gentleman-often a surprise to those who have experienced his hard-hitting art . If the sensation of sliding on a tilted deck or the agonizing suspense of being depth-charged , so immediate in Freeman 's painting, are not pleasant, there are far deeper satisfactions in understanding the whole truth . w Mr. Sorlien is Director ofMystic Maritime Gallery, a business founded to support Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut.