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Paul Garnett
McKay's Ship Yard- The Launching of Clippership "Flying Cloud" in 1851

Name: McKay's Ship Yard- The Launching of Clippership "Flying Cloud" in 1851
Brand: Paul Garnett

$28,000List Price

About the Item

Here is the artist Paul Garnett's description of this painting: This is the last in a series of paintings related to the work of the legendary builder of clipper ships and his yard in East Boston, Massachusetts This painting of the clippership "Flying Cloud" launching from McKay’s East Boston yard, was intended from the beginning to showcase the massive operation of this location in producing some of the greatest and most renowned clippers that ever sailed. To begin with, the location in East Boston at the foot of Border Street is still there, although McKay’s Yard, of course, no longer occupies the space. Now it is filled with harbor tugs and various metal roofed buildings housing the means to maintain those vessels in operation. There is still a gated fence along Border Street and the original slatted wood fence of McKay’s day is no longer there. The land area, however, still slopes down to the waters of the Mystic River and, in fact, the launching rails, or what remains of them, can still be seen at water’s edge. My first and most important task was determining as accurately as possible, the layout of McKay’s shipbuilding operation as well as the location of the three building slips. Luckily, I discovered that in the Science Museum here in Boston, there is a six foot long diorama of the yard that the Museum generously allowed me to photograph, as well as an eight foot long mural of Flying Cloud (the subject of my painting). Further research revealed that the model of the yard and buildings that were there is accurate, but the area of the Navy Yard and the land in the distance 1700 feet across the Mystic River, was a complete fabrication. Accurate maps of the land on both sides of the river from the period of the 1850’s were essential. An 1851 map of the East Boston waterfront was found at an on-line site that had reproductions of old maps. There was the McKay Yard, and all the surrounding areas, in great detail as well as the outline of the land that held the Navy yard across the river from the shipyard. The next step, since it was close by and a prime item in the painting’s background, was to determine the buildings and various other operations that made up the Navy Yard of the 1850’s. No amount of research in libraries, on-line, or amongst my own vast collection of maritime history could unearth the information I required. As is said, I had hit a brick wall. People at the Constitution Museum (where I have three other paintings permanently on display) were contacted, but also found no records of the yard’s layout in the early years of its existence. They were, however, able to supply me with a name at the Department of National Parks Service, which had just finished an historic research study of the Charlestown Navy yard. Their result comprised of three telephone book sized volumes and, upon contacting them, explaining the painting I was trying to complete and my need to make an accurate vision of what had really been there, not just a lovely painting of a ship being launched, they expressed great interest in what I was trying to record and immediately sent the studio a large box containing ALL three volumes covering the Navy Yard’s beginnings in 1800 up to 1974! The books provided me with texts, maps, and, most importantly, early photos with details of every wharf and slip as well as every single structure in the Yard as viewed from East Boston. I had hit pay dirt! Last, but not least, I had to determine the feel of the weather, sky, etc. on the day of the launching. For this I turned to the Boston Atlas newspaper, which published a detailed and concise report of what they had witnessed as Cloud went into the water – a sunny , brisk April day with clouds on the horizon, Flying Cloud’s flags furling and standing out in the wind, spectators in the yard and the river filled with craft of all descriptions filling the place with people there to witness the birth of another of Donald McKay’s masterpieces. Then, I took a trip, camera and sketch pad in tow, to the location in East Boston on the anniversary of the day Flying Cloud was launched. This allowed me to ‘feel’ the place, time of day, etc., more accurately, put this event in history on canvas. As luck would have it (and very seldom does) I arrived in sun with clouds on the horizon, a brisk wind and various flags on the waterfront standing out in the mid-April breeze. At last something was telling me that this painting was meant to be! This project was, without a doubt, the most rewarding that I ever attempted and is proof that perseverance and hard research pay off, not just in the final painting itself, but in the accuracy of its depiction of a time in our history long gone, never to be seen again – a window into our past. Looking at the left of the picture in the far distance is Boston’s North End. Along with the wharfs, buildings and ships one can see the steeple of Christ Church, and, further along, the copper covered dome of the State House. The present day gold leaf did not come along until after the Second World War. Further to the right, the land swings in towards the Charles River, hidden by the beginnings of the Navy Yard. In the center distance, in the background and dominating the Yard, are three ‘ship houses’ that would be home to the hulls of ships that could be worked on in inclement weather. Other mill houses, etc. are to the right with a large packet ship docked nearby and the then wooden Chelsea Bridge crossing the far right to the Chelsea waterfront which is unseen. The middle ground displays numerous ships of every description making their ways along the busy Mystic River. Most interesting amongst these is the steam ferry Empire State owned by a firm in Fall River, MA. She made daily excursions with passengers from that city to Boston and back again. At the time of Flying Cloud’s launching, the end of the era of big clippers was only 10 years away and the appearance of Empire State in the background is a reminder of the sweeping changes that would soon come to the maritime world. The launching has just taken place minutes ago and the Flying Cloud is riding high in the water, her upper masts and sails not installed at launching, but will be stepped in later when pulled into the masting dock to the left. Her new copper sheathing is not yet turned that lovely green as she is newly in her element and her masts and yards can be seen on the dock awaiting her. Two other ships were in various stages of construction at the time of Flying Cloud’s launching. They were, to the right, Stratfordshire, and to the left, Flying Fish. McKay an his workforce were able to turn out a clipper in about 90 days! Along the docks are another clipper to the far left, various brick structures along border Street, and just below the ships masts on the dock, the ship smith who was responsible for making all the ironwork for McKay. A closer look will reveal him just inside the door hard at work next to his forge, and a stairway leading up to sleeping and storage space above. Along Border Street was a fence clearly seen and a site where a worker stands with a clipboard checking off all carts entering and leaving with supplies. A young newspaper boy hands a paper to a man next to the site and in the center can be seen a father with his little son on his shoulders looking over the fence as well as many inside to observe the spectacle. Another man turns from working on the ship to see a young lad on a bike peddling past him. Men can be seen buzzing all over the yard busy at work, caulking, lifting deck beams, and setting frames as others take a quick look at the launching of the product of their endeavors. In the mid-left foreground below Stratfordshire, two men remove a plank from the steam box and the foreman’s shack is just next door to another in mid-painting of the building that held tables and various drawings and prints of the ships under construction. Younger boys, probably friends, sit on trunks of tree timber still to be fashioned into frame futtucks and knees for future use. On the right is a large squared timber for a mast, one man with a square prior to laying out and others with adzes ready to shape it. And, just below another uses a block plane on a spare. A large steam engine inside was a McKay invention designed to help make the milling of timber more efficient and cost effective. My whole intention was to make this painting live for the viewer. Every detail had to be natural to each element – men doing the various jobs assigned to them, others witnessing the event, and a harbor reveling in their excitement as another clipper put Boston once again on the map as one of the premier shipbuilding ports in the country. A native of Massachusetts, marine artist Paul Garnett is entirely self-taught. For seven years he served as the shipwright on Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's tall ship replica of the famous "Bounty" that was built for M.G.M.'s 1962 production of Mutiny on the Bounty starring Marlon Brando.His artwork has been featured in Nautical World Magazine and Sea History Magazine. He has also had his paintings appear on A & E's Sea Tales as well as The History Channel's program History's Mysteries. The Clinton County Historical Society in New York licensed Battle of Valcour Island as a poster for their recovery project on the lake where the battle took place. This painting has also been used in Facts On File's Revolutionary War Almanac. Mr. Garnett's paintings have also been featured as the covers of the trilogy by naval historian William H. White about the War of 1812 – A Press of Canvas, A Fine Tops'l Breeze and The Evening Gun. Also, for Mr. White, the artist has produced covers for The Greater the Honor a tale of the Barbary Wars, In Pursuit of Glory, When Fortune Frowns, The Voyage of H.M.S. Pandora, Gun Bay and Sea History's Press Guide to the War of 1812. Recently, Nicholas Nicastro's work Between Two Fires A Novel of John Paul Jones used Mr. Garnett's art for the cover. He has also done cover art for Telarc's Masters & Commanders CD recorded by the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra conducted by the late great Erich Kunzel and for Secret Signs recorded by the Bow Triplets, an Irish/Celtic folk music group based in Europe. He was OP Sail's featured event artist at the gathering of Tall Ships. In July 2005, Mr. Garnett was involved in the National Juried Exhibition at the 12th Annual Maritime Art Exhibition at the Coos Art Museum in Oregon. Both the Constitution Museum in Charlestown and the Marine Museum in Fall River Massachusetts have permanent exhibits of his work, as do the Minnesota Maritime Museum, the North Carolina Marine Museum in Beaufort and, more recently, the National Coast Guard Museum. The artist is also a longtime member of the National Maritime Historical Society, the International Society of Marine Painters and the Nautical Research Guild.

Creator:
Paul Garnett (1951, American)
Dimensions:
Height: 24 in (60.96 cm)Width: 48 in (121.92 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
Medium:
Oil
Movement & Style:
American Realist
Period:
21st Century
Condition:
Gallery Location:
Stonington, CT
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU94813332991

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