Contributed by Bob and Callie Connor through Westport Island History Committee
Description
This is a detail image of the three-masted ship pictured on the west wall of the hallway murals in the Cornelius Tarbox House. The ship exhibits four flags on its spars and rigging. One flag on the ship carries the initials, WFT, which may refer to William F. Tarbox (1832-1865), youngest son of Cornelius Tarbox, Jr. (1785-1858) who built the Tarbox house.
Along the sides of the ship's hull are painted a row of pseudo cannon ports. The sails are filled by a following breeze, while the flags stand out in the opposite direction, in a convention of 19th century ship painting.
Cornelius Tarbox, Jr. was a successful farmer and merchant mariner. In the year of his death, he was among the town's most successful: he owned shares in vessel cargo capacity measured as 129 tons in the town's valuation records. Westport had a long seafaring tradition and benefited from the mid-19th century boom in the fishing industry. It follows that the family's house might be decorated with marine murals.
About This Item
- Title: WFT schooner approaching the lighthouse mural, Westport Island, ca. 1858
- Creator: Flutter Focus Photography
- Creation Date: 2016
- Subject Date: circa 1858
- Location: Westport Island, Lincoln County, ME
- Media: Photographic print
- Local Code: CorTarboxHouse.Mural.6.circa1858
- Collection: Cornelius Tarbox House Murals
- Object Type: Image
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For more information about this item, contact:
Westport Island History Committee6 Fowles Point Road, Westport Island, ME 04578
(207) 882-8477
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