Live Auction 7856Maritime Art
John Bentham-Dinsdale (Yorkshire 1927-2008)
Lot 53

John Bentham-Dinsdale (Yorkshire 1927-2008)

The American clipper Nightingale ploughing through the waves

Closed21 November 2012

Price Realised

GBP 6,250

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John Bentham-Dinsdale (Yorkshire 1927-2008)
The American clipper Nightingale ploughing through the waves
signed 'John Bentham-Dinsdale' (lower left) and further signed and inscribed 'The Nightingale/the famous American clipper/built by S. Hanscom in 1851/with a registered tonnage/of 1066 tons/Length of keel - 178'/Beam - 36'/Hold (depth) 20''(on the reverse)
oil on canvas
30 x 40 in. (76.2 x 101.6 cm.)

Specialist note

Designed by Samuel Hanscom, Jun., the tea clipper and slave ship Nightingale was built at the Hanscom Shipyard in Eliot, Maine for Davis & Co.; Samson & Tappan's Pioneer Line of Australian Packets. Displacing 1,083 tons, she measured 177 feet in length with a 36 foot beam. Captured in Africa in 1861 by U.S.S. Saratoga whilst carrying a cargo of slaves, Nightingale was taken as a prize and purchased by the United States Navy.

After serving as a supply ship and collier during the American Civil War supporting Union Navy ships blockading the Confederate States of America, Nightingale went on to a long career in Arctic exploration and merchant trading before foundering in the North Atlantic in 1893 en route from Liverpool to Halifax.