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Thomas M. M. Hemy
datapages
01,
02
&
03 are now on site. Plus all
of the other image pages, accessible though the index on page
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THE BATTLE
There are some brief words on this site now as to the sea battle
that Thomas Hemy depicted in the two works presented on this page. i.e. the
battle off Boston Harbour between the British frigate H.M.S.
Shannon & the American frigate U.S.S. Chesapeake. Go to site page
23.
BOARDING OF THE CHESAPEAKE (1895)
The fine work which follows appears on
a page of 'The History Project', a
professional development site of The University of California at Davis for Social Science teachers. What a pleasure to find a site
that clearly states that the image is in the public domain. It would seem that
the work is owned by the U.S. Naval Historical Center, U.S. Dept of the Navy, Washington
Navy Yard, 805 Kidder Breese St. SE, DC 20374-5060. And an image of the work was
published in American Heritage, XX, 1, Dec. 1968, p. 60.
I have a number
of issues of American Heritage, I know. Just maybe
I have that one. If not we will try to find it! It has a cover picture of a sword and its major article is a 36 page account of the Jun, 1, 1813
sea battle between the United States frigate 'Chesapeake' & the British frigate
'Shannon' off Boston. With colour images of the ships, captains, &
battle, plus an account of the battle written by Peter Padfield.
I read then, on this
page
(do drop by to see it full size) that the work depicts
Captain Broke of the Shannon leading his men in boarding the Chesapeake in 1813. I have reduced the size of the rather larger image available at that link in
order that you may view the whole image here without scrolling.
THE SHANNON AND THE CHESAPEAKE AT CLOSE QUARTERS (1895)
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At left is a print entitled
'The Shannon and the Chesapeake at close quarters'.
You can buy the print
here. I trust that site will not object to my use of the
thumbnail image. But if there is any objection, I will gladly remove it from this page. I
was
hopeful that we might soon have on site an image of that work of larger size & better detail.
But that now seems unlikely. The work is owned by a private collector in Florida
who then regularly welcomed tours of visiting school children as a means to expose
them to quality art. A catalogue was being prepared a number of years ago &
the persons then preparing the catalogue offered an image of the work in
exchange for the use of data from this site. |
I did read, however, in a book that
listed auction sales in 1988, that the work was sold in that year for £24,000. And the listing stated that the work was painted in 1895.
In the years since the above words were written, I
have preferred not to disclose on this site the
name of that private collector in Florida. (It would seem, however, that he
resides for a major part of each year at Homeport in Cape Cod.) But that reticence now seems unnecessary since a show of
his art collection was held
at the Boston
Museum of Fine Arts, Avenue of the Arts, 465 Huntington
Avenue, in Boston commencing on Aug. 31, 2005. It must have been a popular show because it was scheduled to end on
Nov. 17, 2005 but was extended through Nov. 27, 2005. The show was entitled
'Things I Love: The
Many Collections of William I. Koch'. The show included the Hemy work & in a
review of the show Ed Siegel of the Boston Globe
wrote as follows: 'The lore of the high seas is the first thing you notice in the show. Hanging in a hallway near its entrance,
Thomas Hemy's large canvas depicting men at war,
''The Shannon and the Chesapeake, Close Quarters," shivered me timbers, while
other paintings caught both the adventure and the serenity of life on the high
seas.' Alas, I missed the show & missed the opportunity to see the Hemy
work in close proximity to where I live in Toronto, Canada. Boston is
scarcely around the corner from Toronto, of course, but viewing the show would have been possible with a
long weekend's drive. Certainly a bit shorter than a drive to West Palm Beach, Florida,
where William Koch most probably continues to invite school children to visit his home to learn first hand an
appreciation of fine art.
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William I. (Ingraham) Koch? A most interesting individual, indeed. Seems to be
better know as Bill. The surname is, by the way,
pronounced 'coke' like the drink. Famous for skippering
America³ in 1992 when he won the coveted America's Cup.
In the business world he is known as the founder, owner & President of 'The Oxbow Group', a
very large, very diversified & privately held holding company. A biography is
here and you can see him on
this Oxbow management page.
Bill Koch owns, as I read in an 'antiquesandfineart'
article, no less than seven artworks of
the sea battle between
the Shannon & the Chesapeake in 1813 north of Massachusetts Bay. The battle is of especial significance, it would seem, since Bill's ancestor, Captain James Lawrence,
(referred to at the above link, however, as Jacob Lawrence,
mortally wounded in the engagement & carried below after being hit by the
first Shannon broadside, uttered the words
that became the U.S. Navy motto: 'Don't give up the ship!' (Lawrence died with his last command still on his lips:
'Tell the men to fire faster & not to give up the ship; fight her till she
sinks!')
That is Captain James Lawrence at left.
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At that last link you can
see many works in Bill's collection, in their settings in his home, but alas the
Hemy work seems not to be featured.
I still seek a large quality image of the Hemy work. Some day in the future, perhaps, it may be possible to show it here.
For your enjoyment. And mine!
I will try to locate and present on this page an image of
America³ - in full sail. I think such an inclusion here
would most surely meet with Thomas Hemy's approval, were he here today to grant
it! The official America³ site seems to contain, on its photo
page, just two images from that event.
How extraordinary! I would have expected pages of images all freely usable. The
two images that are presented are thumbnails, are copyrighted &
would therefore be unavailable for use on this site had they been of good size
which they are not. There is a small image of
America³
here but it also is copyrighted
&
cannot be shown here. But you can see it. Where I cannot show it!
America³, built by
Goetz Custom Boats of Rhode Island, defeated Stars and Stripes, skippered by Dennis Conner, to become the U.S. standard bearer in the 1992 event.
America³ took on the Italian team 'Il Moro di Venezia', whose vessel 'Il Moro'
had defeated yachts from Spain, Sweden, Australia, France, Japan, & New
Zealand to reach the final. I am not 100% sure those words are correct. Even
the official sites seem to me to be unclear as to the exact names of a) the
Italian vessel, maybe 'Il Moro di Venezia V
ITA-25', and b) the Italian team. Bud Melges was helmsman of the U.S. entrant? America³
won 4 races to 1 in the series held off San Diego, California. Notable, surely,
was race 1, when Bill Koch was unfortunately hit in the head during a jibe -
when hit by a block attached to the boom rigging. He was, however, able to get
to his feet & continue his duties despite, most probably, a considerable
headache! The America's Cup dates from as long ago as 1851 when the first race
was held. It was then called,
by the British, the 'One Hundred Sovereign Cup' and as the 'One Hundred Guineas
Cup,' in error I read, by the American syndicate that won it. It
later became the 'America
Cup' & now 'America's Cup'.
If you can provide additional information about
the subject matter of this page, I sure would like
to hear from you.
A large quality image of the Hemy work, perhaps. And a similar image of America³
would be most welcome. And please Thomas Hemy if he is watching!
A 1961 volume entitled 'Guns Off Cape Ann' by Kenneth Poolman, is devoted to the 1813 battle between
the Shannon & the Chesapeake.
Thomas M. M. Hemy datapages
01,
02
&
03 are now on site. Plus all
of the other image pages, accessible though the index on page
05.
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