The Steamboat "Peter Crary"

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Type: Paintings(Opens in new tab)
Date: 1858
Accession number: L2015.41.175
Maker: James Bard(Opens in new tab) (American, 1815–1897)
Dimensions: frame: 40 x 61 x 3 1/2 in. (101.6 x 154.9 x 8.9 cm.)
Medium: oil on canvas
Description: Ship portrait of the steam side-wheeler “Peter Crary” rescuing a becalmed sloop, the “Turkey Glen”.
Credit: Jonathan and Karin Fielding Collection

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There is perhaps no better example of how steam power transformed America's waterways in the 19th century than this rendering of the steamboat Peter Crary towing a becalmed sloop, emblem of sail power. Built in 1852, the Peter Crary was, at 86 feet long, of the class of smaller inshore tugboats then revolutionizing shipping practices in New York harbor. The self-taught painter James Bard was America's preeminent chronicler of the steamship. He is said to have documented 4,000 ships over a 77-year career. The accuracy and meticulousness that characterize his works appealed to the ship owners and operators who commissioned them and in whose office and waiting rooms they would have been displayed.

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The Steamboat "Peter Crary"

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