"Pilots to the Rescue!""
Welcome to the gallery of
Steven W. Lush
Marine Artist/Model Shipwright
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The "Eastmoor", a 5812 GT cargo vessel of the Runciman Moor Line, was built by the Pallion Shipyard, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Scotland and was launched June 1922. On the morning of April 1, 1942, while running north in the Gulf Stream and approximately 700 miles east of Hampton Roads, Va. she was hit in the stern by a torpedo from the German U-boat, U-71. She was enroute to Halifax, NS from Savannah, Ga. She sank within 12 minutes of being hit and went down with her captain, James Basil Rodgers, 12 other crewmen and 3 gunners. The remaining 29 seamen were picked up by the SS "Calgary". These men were eventually discharged at Cape Town, South Africa. Here we see "Eastmoor" slugging her way, northward, thru the Gulf Stream several hours before she was torpedoed. Stratmore 300LB WC paper
This old tanker with its name obscured by paint on the bow is being towed to a breakers yard in Brooklyn by a Turecamo tug. The scene is in the mid 1970's before the "Twin Towers" were brought down by terrorists. The tanker and "Twin Towers" are gone forever and the world, in general, has passed into a more complicated and lethal era.
Watercolor on Arches 140LB WC paper.
This watercolor was selected for the 29th Annual International Marine Art Exhibition at the Maritime Gallery, Mystic Seaport, Mystic, CT. 9/27/08 to 11/16/08. The painting was awarded the "Museum Purchase Award" and is now part of the museum's permanent collection.
Located at the end of the Appian Way in the SW corner of the Adriatic port of Brindisi, Italy, the fireboat "Giuseppe Barretta" sits stern-to to the dock and moored to it's buoy. The Barretta Bros. towboat company has 8 "Traktor" propulsion type tugs and this one old fireboat. The suburb of Casale across the port's inner harbor is lit for the night and it's symbol, the Monument to the Mariners (a scalable from within monolith), can be seen across the Giuseppe's fantail. Watercolor on Strathmore 300LB WC paper.
The McArdle Bridge at the mouth of Chelsea Creek connects East Boston to Chelsea, MA. at the north end of Boston's inner harbor. Depicted is the "Jason Reinauer" (astern)and the "Vincent D. Tibbetts, Jr." (ahead) leaving their charge, a large fuel tanker up river unloading at a fuel dock. The tugs are transitting thru the partially opened bridge, outbound and enroute to their next assignment. Watercolor on 300LB Strathmore WC paper.
"Satartia", the 14th "Hog Islander" launched from that famous South Philadelphia yard of the same name on April 12, 1919 eventually left on June 3, 1919 from New York heading into the south Atlantic beginning her famous round the world voyage. "Satartia" is depicted here 3 weeks out from New York and about 12 hours due west of Cape Town off the "Cape of Storms", the Cape of Good Hope. Table Mountain has risen off her port bow. With her fore and aft cargo decks awash the Captain has ordered the engine room gang to reduce speed to a crawl thru the southward flowing and powerful Angula Current that runs down Africa's east coast at a 6 knot clip. Any faster in these head seas could prove disasterous possibly breaking the ship in half. It is certain that the lifeboats would not be successfully launced if that occurred and the propspect of all hands lost a certainty. Watercolor on Strathmore 300LB WC paper.
A pair of Turecamo tugs await the arrival of this super tanker on its approach to New York harbor. A chop has set up while the tugs idle in place. The tanker's watch standing fireman is having some trouble blending his air and fuel mix equipment on the boilers as evidenced by the dreaded fuel rich black stack emissions, a fineable offense for the ship's owners. Watercolor on Arches 140LB WC paper.
Transitting the Cape Cod Canal with its 5-6 knot current can be problematic for large ships. Here we see the "Keystone Canyon" enroute thru the Canal, from east to west, during slack tide. The unidentified Corp of Engineer's tug, alongside and "on the hip" can be seen with the ships gangway lowered for the Canal pilot's access to and from the leviathan. Watercolor on Arches 140LB WC paper. Just after midnight on March 14, 1886 and while on her final approach to New York City the British passenger vessel "Oregon" collided with the schooner "Robert Morse" 15 miles off Fire Island, NY. Within a few hours after unsuccessful attempts to stem the leak the captain of the "Oregon" gave the order to abaondon ship as the "Oregon" slowly sank by the head. Around 430AM coming from the west on a stiff westerly breeze the pilot schooner "Phantom" arrived to find dozens of "Oregon" lifeboats packed with scantily clad passengers scattered about the stricken vessel. At one point, "Phantom's" crew had helped close to 400 people up on to her 70 foot long deck to await transfer to the German passenger ship "Fulda" (also enroute to NYC). Amazingly and quite as if orchestrated all 852 "Oregon" passengers and crew survived the ordeal. The "Oregon" up-ended around noon time and plummeted to the bottom, bow first, while all looked on before departing the scene. Watercolor on Strathmore 300LB WC paper. The pilot is back aboard No. 5 pilot schooner ("Hesper") leaving her charge outbound in Presidential Roads in Boston's outer harbor. The Graves Lighthouse can be seen off the pilot schooner's port beam and the dependable SW breeze has just begun. The pilot schooner can return to Boston and change her crew for a much needed rest ashore while the passenger freighter winds her way out thru the channel markers and outbound to Europe. Watercolor in Stathmore 300LB WC paper.
On the horizon in the early morning fog bank, an English brig, just out of range and seriously outgunned by this French frigate, is attempting to maneuver into the fog and flee for her life. Light winds and a tactical advantage has given the French man-o-war the "weather guage" in this encounter. Gouache on textured and tinted illustration board.
This felucca is blowing down the Mozambique Channel off the east coast of Africa. She is enroute to a port to discharge her load of livestock and beans. Her lateen rig is tricky to handle unless the crew has years of experience. But sailing downwind, especially "in the Trades", has its advantages! Watercolor on 140LB Arches WC paper.
The "Cecil County" and "Hahatonka" are in the repair yard for some work. The "County" is upon the railway while "Hahatonka" (7,048GT) sits almost high and dry at an adjacent dock. "Hahatonka" was designated hull # 4018 by the USSB and was built by the Bethlehem Steel Co., Sparrows Point, MD. being launched on April 24, 1920. She was later renamed "Gulfport" and somehow managed to stay out of the sights of prize hungry German U-boats while she traversed the south Atlantic to and from ports like Recife, Bahia and Rio during WWII. She was scrapped in 1950. Watercolor on Szabo 300LB WC paper The "Blythmoor", a 6582 GT cargo vessel launched in 1922 by the Wm. Doxford / Pallion Shipyard at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, was initially under control of the Moor Line Ltd. She was eventually turned over to and managed by the W. Runciman & Co. shipping firm. In late March of 1940, "Blythmoor" departed the UK for Norway. On April 10 she and 13 other merchantmen from Europe were trapped in the port of Narvik when the German destroyer, "Roeder" approached and opend fire. The British escort vessels, "Hotspur" and "Hostile" returned fire while the merchantmen tried to flee the fjiord running for their lives! "Blythmoor" was not so lucky being hit by an erant British torpedo. She went to the bottom along with six of her crew. "Blythmoor" is depicted here years ealier and during less turbulent times upon a marine railway in the US. The "Chief" has ordered steam up in the boilers while a tug waits patiently for her launching back into active service. Strathmoor 300LB WC paper. The "Bayou Chico", a freighter built by the Pensacola Shipbuilding Co., Pensacola, Fl., was built under direction of the US Shipping Board and was launched into service in October of 1920. In March of 1942 she was part of transatlantic convoy ONS-18. Convoy ONS-18 joined up with convoy ON-202 heading west. They were attacked by German U-Boats and the Luftwaffe as they progressed westward from England via the Arctic Circle. "Chico" was bombed by the Luftwaffe just west of England early in the voyage but sustained minor damage during the attack. She was ultimately scrapped in 1946. "Bayou Chico" is depicted here hauled out on a marine railway ready for launch back into service. Yard workers are clearing the platform while a tug gives a blast of her whistle to let everybody know she is prepared to ease her out of the railway once afloat and bring her alongside an adjacent dock. Watercolor on Strathmore 300LB WC paper. The shipyard's outside machinists have left for the night after repacking this tanker's stern tube gland bearing. They'll return in the morning to breakdown their ladders and scaffolding and prepare to launch her back into service. Watercolor on Szabo 300LB WC paper. The tanker "Sapulpa", designated as hull #1030 by the US Shipping Board, was built by the Moore Shipbuilding Co., Oakland, CA. She was launched on July 20, 1921 and changed owners and names several times over her 34 year life. She was eventually scrapped in 1955 and was, at that time, named "Norma". "Sapulpa" is depicted here getting a much overdue "bottom job" while shipyard maintenance personnel are re-stringing the powerlines prior to re-establishing their proper catenary. Watercolor on Szabo 300LB WC paper. Built by the Baltimore Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Co. of Baltimore, Md., the "Cecil County" (her pre-launch name was the "Begbee"), a 7,641 gross ton tanker, hull #1247 as designated by the US Shipping Board, was launched in July 1920. She worked 30+ years carrying crude to various ports. She was bought and sold a few times with name changes to the "Cities Service Kansas", then "Mosoil" and eventually the "Matapan". She was scrapped in 1954. Watercolor on Szabo 300LB WC paper. The "Quinneseco", was a 2500GT wooden hull, freighter that was constructed and launched by the Terry Shipbuilding Co. of Savannah Georgia in 1920. She was of composite costruction with her cast iron stern frame, steel rudder, bronze prop, oak planking and frames and varnished mahogany external top side paneling. She was built when wooden ship building was being phased out with steel shipbuilding. She is almost "yacht-like" in appearance and is reminiscient of Conrad's tales where the captain's family (and dog!) lived aboard along with mutinous crews!Watercolor on Szabo 300LB WC paper. The freighter, "Blue Triangle", built in 1920 by the American International Shipbuilding Corp., Hog Island, PA. was one of many "Hog Islanders" built for the US Shipping Board. She was renamed the "Exmouth" in 1928 after being acquired by the Export Steamship Co. in 1925 and served on the America-Italy run for years. During WWII she sailed regularly in convoys across the Atlantic carrying medical supplies to the Allies in Europe. She met her end in 1944 when she struck a British mine off Fife Ness, Scotland. She was recently discovered by salvage divers in November 2008. She is depicted here hauled up on a marine railway in Pensacola Florida in 1922, still carrying her original name ("Blue Triangle") and the homeport, Philadelphia, across her transom. She is getting her bottom cleaned and repainted and a trim job on her prop. Watercolor on Szabo 300LB WC paper. The "Knoxville", launched March 27, 1919, was the 33rd "Sub Boat" launched at the Shipping Board's New Jersey shipyard. She was a 5,075 DWT, 335' LOA freighter assigned initially to the Donald Steamship Co. and later the Munson Steamship Co. She carried general cargo but was used mostly to ship nitrates and coke from Chilean waters to several Baltic ports. "Knoxville" was plagued with mechanical problems and had several major breakdowns in her relatively short career. Here we see her ready to be launched after repairs and inspections as a result of her grounding in the Houston ship channel. She was eventually towed to Baltimore from Port Arthur, Texas in 1929 for breaking up at the Union Shipbuilding Co. 10 short years after her launching. Watercolor on Szabo 300LB WC paper. Eastern Salt Co. located at the western end of Chelsea Creek in the NE corner of Boston Harbor, stockpiles hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of rock salt used on highways and city streets by all municipalities in the northeast during the winter months. The Mahoney's, company founders, have been in business since 1955 and their own salt ships deliver the mineral regularly from South America and Ireland. Here we see (2) large Manitowoc crawler cranes at work helping to rebuild the company's pier bulkhead. The landmark red, white and blue tarpaulin is covering the salt to protect it until it is time for dispersement. Watercolor of Szabo 300LB WC paper Awarded "Gold Medal" at the USS Constitution Museum Model Shipwright Guild's Annual Exhibition, USS Constitution Museum, Charlestown, MA. Feb. 5, 2008 to March 8, 2008. Spanish inshore fishing boat mainly for squid. Scratch built, plank on bulkhead, 1/2"=1'. 16" LOA X 10" keel to mast trucks X 4.5" max. beam. Silver Medal winner, USS Constitution Museum Model Shipwright Guild 31st Annual Juried Show February 2010, Uss Constitution Museum, Charlestown, Navy Yard, Boston, MA.Life in the "Stream"
Freighters, Tankers,Tugs and Barges
Bermuda Triangle
The Red Tanker - Permanent collection of Mystic Seaport's Museum of America and the Sea, Mystic, CT.
Giuseppe Barretta
McArdle Bridge Transit
"Satartia" off Cape Town
Arrival
Leviathan
A Press of Sail!
Pilots to the Rescue!
No. 5 Pilot
Engagement at 6 Bells!
The Trade Wind
Ships and Marine Railways
Brothers
The "Blythmoor"
The "Bayou Chico"
Weekend Haul Out!
"Sapulpa"
The "Cecil County"
"Quinneseco"
Shore Power
The "Knoxville"
Landscapes and Seascapes
Eastern Salt
Model Ships
The "Spray"
"Duilia"
