The Brig Antelope in Boston Harbor

On the far left an unidentified brig, a brig being a small to medium sized merchant vessels, generally ranging between 80 and 120 feet in hull length.

Next in the middle, the steam demi-bark (demi-barque) "Antelope", designed jointly by Samuel Hall and Samuel H. Pook and built in Hall's shipyard at East Boston in 1855. The design concept and construction were closely overseen by Robert Bennet Forbes; the machinery was constructed by Otis Tufts and she turned a Griffith propeller. The vessel was designed for pirate-infested Far Eastern waters

To her right on the coat is Boston, the new State House on the top of Beacon Hill can be seen.

In the forefront in the far right is Brig "Antelope" 370 tons built at East Boston in 1843 by Samuel Hall for the firm of Russell and Co. Robert Bennett Forbes was then a partner in that firm and oversaw the brig’s design and construction. Philip Dumaresq, was her first captain. This painting, made by Lane in 1863, twenty years after "Antelope's" launch. Here, the artist painted "Antelope" (identifiable through her signal flags), as she appeared on her 1843 maiden voyage from East Boston to Asia. "Antelope" was one of the fastest ships trading between Boston, India, and China, a route that required extraordinary speed due to unpredictable weather and frequent pirate activity. Asian trade-in tea, fabric, and opium-established significant fortunes for many New England merchants. The date on Lane’s painting (1863) postdates "Antelope's" departure from Boston by twenty years and her loss by eleven years, suggesting that the painting was commissioned by a relative (perhaps Francis Dumaresq) as a memorial to the vessel and to Captain Dumaresq (d. 1861). The brig’s longtime absence from Boston makes it unlikely that Lane had the opportunity to make sketches, let alone a painting, during her existence. The depiction of Antelope 1843 is apparently based on an earlier, contemporary Chinese painting, which was reproduced in Old Shipping Days published in Boston by the State Street Trust Company, 1918. Lane’s version has made clearer this image’s narrative content. "Antelope" is depicted as having just arrived in port (an imagined return from China is presumed). She is hove to off East Boston, with foresails aback and her yawl boat in tow astern, ready to bring the captain ashore to report to the Custom House with ship’s papers and cargo manifest. While conjecture has placed Lane in the yawl boat in right foreground, the facial features—most notably the sideburns—bear a closer resemblance to Captain Dumaresq, reinforcing the argument that this painting is a memorial to both the vessel and her first master. (3) The Boston skyline is typical of Lane’s depictions of this port, whether from Governor’s Island or, in this case, East Boston. This painting’s panoramic view is bounded by Charlestown and the Navy Yard on the right, and Boston Neck and Fort Point Channel on the left. It is also time specific to the mid-1840s, with towers, steeples, and other prominent structures of later dates omitted. – Erik Ronnberg

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