File:The Halsewell East Indiaman - was wreck'd off Seacombe in the Isle of Purbeck on the 6th of Jany 1786, when Capt Pierce - two daughters, and two nieces - Capt Pierce - perished along with them RMG PY8430.tiff
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Captions
Captions
Summary
[edit]| Author |
Francis Jukes; Robert Pollard; Robert Smirke |
| Description |
English: The Halsewell East Indiaman... was wreck'd off Seacombe in the Isle of Purbeck on the 6th of Jany 1786, when Capt Pierce... two daughters, and two nieces... Capt Pierce... perished along with them A view of the quarter deck of the Halsewell, occupied with fearful passengers, being flooded. The group on the right of the image consisting of two men and seven women are likely to be Captain Pierce with his two daughters latching on to him, two nieces, and the other rest, as noted in the inscription, ‘seeing that it was impossible to preserve the lives of his daughters, refused to quit the ship and therefore perished along with them.’ Henry Meriton and John Rogers, two of the officers who survived the disaster, recall in their ‘An Interesting and Authentic Account of the Halsewell’ (published W. Bailey, 1786) that the First Officer was Pierce’s nephew. The other male in the group may be a depiction of him. Elsewhere on the quarter deck there are men shielding themselves from the oncoming waves, some drowning, and one even in the act of climbing on the stairs leading up to the poop deck. On the poop deck is a man and woman holding on to their small child. To their right is a male passenger latching on the broken foundation of the mizen mast. In the far-left bottom corner, a man holds on to the remnants of a mast. In the background are figures dotted around on tall rocks, away from the sinking ship. The wreck of the merchant ship Halsewell was an event that shocked the country. On 1 January 1786, she began her return to London from Madras, India, carrying a company of more than 240 crew and passengers. For four days, the ship was caught in a violent storm, even springing a leak. Eventually, on 6 January, she struck some rocks near Seacombe, on the island of Purbeck. Overall, only 74 people survived, most of whom were rescued from the cliffs. Captain Pierce perished with the ship, alongside his two daughters, nieces and nephew. Inscribed: ‘The Halsewell East Indiaman/ Outward bound was wreck’d off Seacombe in the Isle of Purbeck on the 6th of Jany 1786, when Captn Pierce the commander, eight Passengers, most of the Officers, with the greatest part of the Crew were drown’d. Among the passengers were two Daughters, and two Nieces of the Captain, and three other young Ladies. Some of the Officers and Seventy one Seamen and Soldiers with great difficulty escaped upon the Rocks; but Captn Pierce, seeing that it was impossible to preserve the lives of his daughters, refused to quit the ship and therefore perished along with them.’ |
| Date | 17 March 1786 |
| Dimensions | Sheet: 525 x 705 mm; Mount: 604 x 834 mm |
| Notes | Box Title: Sailing Ships 1600-ca.1782. A small oil of this composition, possibly that used for the engraving was sold at Phillips. London, Fine British Paintings, 12 December 1983, lot 16 (16 x 22 ins /40.6 x 55.8 cm): £700, hammer price |
| Source/Photographer | http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/148377 |
| Permission (Reusing this file) |
The original artefact or artwork has been assessed as public domain by age, and faithful reproductions of the two dimensional work are also public domain. No permission is required for reuse for any purpose. The text of this image record has been derived from the Royal Museums Greenwich catalogue and image metadata. Individual data and facts such as date, author and title are not copyrightable, but reuse of longer descriptive text from the catalogue may not be considered fair use. Reuse of the text must be attributed to the "National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London" and a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-SA-3.0 license may apply if not rewritten. Refer to Royal Museums Greenwich copyright. |
| Identifier | Unidentified Prints & Drawings Number: 87 id number: PAH8430 |
| Collection | Fine art |
Licensing
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This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason:
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| Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| current | 16:23, 26 September 2017 |  | 4,800 × 3,976 (54.6 MB) | Fæ (talk | contribs) | Royal Museums Greenwich Fine art (1786), http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/148377 #3500 |
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