File:Ships Through the Ages.jpg

English: BPLDC no.: 09_03_000081

Subtitle: Governor Ames; Gertrude L. Thebaud; the last American square- rigger, Tusitala

Creator: King, Frederic Leonard (American painter and illustrator, 1879-1947)

Date created: 1934-1935

General format: oil on canvas

BPL Department: Special Collections, East Boston Branch Library

Dimensions: 24 x 110 ½ in.

Description: (left to right)

Governor Ames This is an American five-masted schooner, now a vanishing type of vessel. There are few left on the seas at present.

Gertrude L. Thebaud A modem American fisherman type of boat, a two-masted schooner built for sturdiness and swiftness. It can be manned by a very small crew.

Clipper ship The clipper was a very fast-sailing 19th century vessel with multiple masts and a square rig. They were generally narrow for their length, could carry limited bulk freight - small by later 19th century standards - and had a large total sail area. Clipper ships were primarily made in British and American shipyards and sailed all over the world, mostly in trans-Atlantic trade, on the trade routes between the United Kingdom and its colonies in the east, and the New York-to-San Francisco route via Cape Horn.

The last American square-rigger, Tusitala Tusitala is the last of the great square-riggers to fly the stars and stripes. Her owner sails her at a loss rather than see the last American deep-sea windjammer disappear from the seas. The few large square-rigged four-masters still afloat are owned and manned by Scandinavians who are for the most part descendants of the Vikings.

Notes: The description above was written in 1935. Ships Through the Ages, originally four murals painted by Frederic Leonard King between 1934 and 1935, was commissioned as part of the Public Works Art Project for the Jeffries Point Branch of the Boston Public Library. In 1956, the Jeffries Point Branch closed, and each mural was divided into multiple paintings and relocated to the East Boston Branch Library where they are currently on display; however, several sections of the murals are missing.