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Description: | A scene showing an unusual viewpoint from the deck of the barque,'Birkdale', looking aft. The sails of the ship hover over the painting on the left, with the attached rope cutting vertically through the painting. A complex patterning of ropes, halyards and metal stanchions punctuates the left side of the image, setting up a visual tension and contrast with the seascape on the right. The 'Cutty Sark' is shown in the distance on the right in port broadside. There are several men on the deck of the 'Birkdale'. Three face away from the viewer on the left and one wears yellow oilskins and a yellow hat. A fourth man with a cap looks out towards the 'Cutty Sark' on the horizon on the right, shown in full sail with her three masts visible, silhouetted against the skyline. The painting is a fusion of styles and techniques ranging from formalist to representational. The sky exudes a golden glow and a line of cloud hovers above the horizon as a solid mass, rising up above the 'Cutty Sark' on the extreme right. The sea is shown calm and a detailed patterning on the right indicates the ship's wake.
Everett joined the barque, 'Birkdale', and sailed from Bristol to Sabine Pass, Texas, April-June 1920. It was his first journey after World War I. The 'Birkdale' was due to take sulphur from Texas to the Cape, but when she arrived in Texas the ship was re-chartered to Australia and so Everett reluctantly left her and came home by steamer. The 'Birkdale', built in 1892, was the last barque to fly the red ensign and spent nearly all her working life in the Chilean nitrate trade. For a short time after World War I she switched to taking sulphur from Texas to the Cape. The 'Birkdale' went back to the nitrate trade and was wrecked on the Chilean coast after catching fire in 1927.
The 'Cutty Sark' was one of the most famous merchant sailing ships of the 19th century. She was built for the tea trade to China but the opening of the Suez Canal in the year she was built meant a short cut to China that only steam ships could use. After moving into the wool trade to Australia, in 1895 she was sold to the Portuguese and renamed 'Ferreira'. Everett saw her several times while she was at sea under this name. By 1922 she had been rescued by Captain Downman and brought to England where Everett saw her again. She remained as a training ship until she was put into dry dock at Greenwich in 1954 as the last surviving British merchant sailing ship.
Frame with backboard.
caption: The 'Cutty Sark' from the Deck of the 'Birkdale' | Publisher: | "http://collections.rmg.co.uk/" | Rights holder: | "Royal Museums Greenwich" | Subjects: | Herbert Barnard John Everett Cutty Sark (1869) paintings | Source: | Royal Museums Greenwich | Identifier: | http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections... | Go to resource |
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