"The Windjammer Passat near Tower Bridge c. 1930 "

Artist's Proof

Edition of 36

Image size: 9 3/4 x 15 inches (25 x38 cm)

Paper size: 12 x 16 1/2 inches (30 x 42 cm)

(As Artist's Proofs, the prints are numbered using Roman Numerals, e.g. I/XXXVI)

The Flying 'P' Line windjammer Passat is seen moored in the Lower Pool of the Thames at London around 1930. In one sense the subject of the painting is the last days of sail, in another it is the luminosity that can pervade a river scene in the evening light.

The Passat was one of the series of 'P' ships including Pamir, Parma, Preussen and Primwall, all built by Blom and Voss at Hamburg between 1916 and 1920. These large mostly four-masted barques were cleverly designed to sail with comparatively small crews carrying nitrate from Chile to Europe and grain from Australia to Europe, the aim being to create high volume carriers which could compete economically with the ever-increasing use of steam vessels. Their success, however, was short-lived and whilst the Passat continued to work until after the second world war, making her last Cape Horn voyage in 1949, several vessels were lost and others became sail training ships. Fortunately the Passat survived the war and is still afloat at Travemunde, Germany, where she is used as a floating summer camp for the young.