Clipper Ship "Great Republic"

Marine views and pictures of ships have long appealed to collectors and popular taste. To meet consumer demand, print publishers produced a multitude of pictures of clipper ships, which were designed for speedy transport of large cargoes to meet international merchant trade demands. When a clipper ship set a remarkable record for speed, Nathaniel Currier quickly published a print to celebrate the feat, thereby also creating good publicity for the ship's builder, owner, as well as the captain.

The "Great Republic" was the largest wooden sailing ship of its day. Before he made this print, Currier made an earlier print of 1853 (also in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art) to celebrate the launch of this grand, sleekly designed four-masted clipper ship with four decks, which had been built in Boston by Donald McKay. The ship was subsequently towed to New York, where it was loaded and readied for her maiden voyage to Liverpool, England. Unfortunately, before setting sail, a fire broke out and destroyed much of the upper decks and rigging; as this print's inscription notes, it burnt to the waterline. New owners, identified as A.A. Low & Brothers in the imprinted inscription, rebuilt the ship during 1854. Although it was rebuilt slightly smaller than the original design (for example, with three decks and not four), the "Great Republic" remained the largest clipper ship ever built, as this 1855 print was made to show. In early 1855, the "Great Republic" began multiple trade voyages between New York and England, and later between New York and San Francisco, often sailing the distances in record time.The "Great Republic" continued to sail around the world, albeit under different owners and captains, until March 1872, when a hurricane off Bermuda damaged the ship so badly, it was abandoned at sea.

Nathaniel Currier, whose successful New York-based lithography firm began in 1835, produced thousands of hand-colored prints in various sizes that together create a vivid panorama of mid-to-late nineteenth century American life and its history. People eagerly acquired such lithographs featuring picturesque scenery, rural and city views, ships, railroads, portraits, hunting and fishing scenes, domestic life and numerous other subjects, as an inexpensive way to decorate their homes or business establishments. As the firm expanded, Nathaniel included his younger brother Charles in the business. In 1857, James Merritt Ives (the firm's accountant since 1852 and Charles's brother-in-law) was made a business partner; subsequently renamed Currier & Ives, the firm continued until 1907.