PosterCo Ltd
Clipper Ship "Swiftsure" 1326 Tons (Cream) - Framed Print - 12"H x 16"W
£39.99
Clipper Ship "Swiftsure" 1326 Tons (White) - Framed Print - 12"H x 16"W
NB, it is on a Cream print
The 'Clipper ship ''Swiftsure'' 1326 Tons had V Stacpoole as 'Commander' at the time of the painting. She is shown flying the Green Blackwall line house flag and the 'pilot jack' (signal for a pilot), inward bound off Dover, with Shakespeare Cliff under her stern.
This ship was one of the exceptions of the Greenfleet in that she was built at Boston U.S.A in 1854 where she was originally called "Fatherland". As a result she was made of American soft wood instead of oak
The Swiftsure was commissioned to carry emigrants to Australia in the boom periods of the 1855 and the 1856 Australian Gold Rushtrade . Her interior, therefore, was not fitted out to give the luxurious accommodation which was enjoyed in most of the sailing ships of this period. Moreover, with soft Wood instead of oak, she would have had to shorten sail in heavy weather to prevent overstraining, well before her sisters. Nevertheless, she was a well built ship and recorded many fine performances.
Passenger records in Victoria show passenger arrivals and departures for this ship to and from Melbourne on a regular basis from 1857 to 1871.
She was sold in the 1870's and there is a bill of sale relating to the ship in NMM MS GRN 14. She was wrecked at Tripoli in 1888
