A View of Boston Harbor, with the American Clipper Chariot of Fame at anchor and the city's waterfront beyond

For this uncharacteristically tranquil work Montague Dawson has chosen Boston, the cradle of American democracy and one of the greatest entry ports on the Eastern Seabord, as his backdrop. As if to emphasise the city's reliance on seaborne trade, he reinforces the image by portraying one of Boston's own distinctive clipper ships lying at anchor in the bay although clearly preparing to sail. Ordered for the prominent Boston merchant house of Enoch Train & Co., Chariot of Fame was designed and built by Donald McKay at his famous East Boston yard and launched in May 1853. A large three-decker and the identical sister to the Star of Empire, she was registered at 2,050 tons (old measurement) and measured 220 feet in length with a 43 foot beam. Handsomely fitted out for the fast Boston to Liverpool packet service, her seven North Atlantic passages averaged about 17 days except for one in the winter of 1854, when she was almost lost in severe weather. Leaving Liverpool on 11th January with a cargo valued at 100,000 pounds sterling - the heaviest and most valuable American-bound shipment to clear the port up to that date - she collided with an unknown bark on her first night out which, despite relatively minor damage, marked the start of a series of misfortunes which culminated in her limping into Boston Bay, barely seaworthy, in a blinding snowstorm on 23rd February. Refitted and put back into service, towards the end of 1854 she was chartered to the British-owned White Star Line which ran her on their profitable Australian run although that too lasted barely two years. After 1855 she was employed as a general trader and was most frequently to be found running between New York and San Francisco, often carrying guano from Callao to Hampton Roads.

Nearly wrecked off Cape Horn when her cargo shifted whilst en route to San Francisco late in 1860, she then made for Liverpool to load cargo for Melbourne. Returning to London where she was sold to British owners, she remained in British registry until January 1876 when she was abandoned at sea - reason unknown - whilst en route to Cork (Ireland) from the Chincha Islands off the coast of Peru. Chariot of Fame was the last McKay-built ship of Enoch Train's celebrated White Diamond fleet and she was said to have been Train's own favourite. Commanded by the popular Captain Allen Knowles whilst American-owned, she was also a great favourite amongst the travelling public, many of whom were particularly attracted to her quarter-deck Reading Room, an almost unknown luxury at that period.
We are grateful to Michael Naxton for his assistance in preparing this lot.