Speedy ARIEL, c. 1866

gouache, 6 1/2" x 11"

$1,500

The painting depicts the British tea clipper ARIEL running before the wind as she sails down the China Sea with the evening setting in and the rich colors of the sky giving way to the night sky.

The ARIEL was an extreme clipper, composite-built of wood and iron in the ship yard of Robert Steele of Grnock, England in 1865. She gained her fame in the China tea trade and it was her celebrated run home from the Orient in company with the clipper TAIKING in 1866 that earned her reputation as a fast ship. ARIEL was considered a prime flyer and was always in the first flight of ships to depart with China tea. Alas, her career was short: she was lost at sea in 1872. She departed London for Sydney, Australia, and was never heard from again. It was assumed by those in the know that she had been “pooped” (i.e., the seas would have swamped her by the stern) while running her Easting down.