U.S. Clipper Rainbow

Details

William Minshall Birchall (b.1884)
U.S. Clipper Rainbow
signed 'W M Birchall' and inscribed as title (lower right)
pencil and watercolour heightened with white
8½ x 11 in. (21.6 x 28 cm.)

Special notice

This lot is subject to Collection and Storage Charges. No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

Launched from the New York yard of Smith & Dimon on 22^nd January 1845, the Rainbow was built to the order of Howland & Aspinwall, also of New York, for their fleet of China traders. Registered at 757 tons and measuring 159 feet in length with a 32 foot beam, she was said to resemble closely the Ann McKim, another Howland & Aspinwall ship and believed to be the fastest merchant ship then afloat. After a relatively short career, during which she made a near-record run from Hong Kong to New York in 79 days in 1846, she was lost without trace after leaving New York, bound for China via Valparaiso, in March 1848; it was surmised at the time that she foundered off Cape Horn.

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