'Eurydice' at sea

Port-broadside view of the ship ‘Eurydice’ under near-full sail, heading into the Mersey, signed and dated ‘W. Yorke L’pool, 1871’. The lighthouse on Point Lynas, Anglesey, and a Liverpool pilot schooner are beyond its bow and a twin-funnelled steamer, possibly a sea-going tug, is in the distance astern. A figure standing on the aft-deckhouse roof looks towards the land with a telescope and the ship’s name is in capital letters on the gunwale just below him. A pilot jack (a Union flag with a white border) at the fore shows the ship is seeking a pilot. At the main, a blue flag with a white-bordered red upper-hoist quadrant, bearing a white capital ‘V’, is the house-flag. The ship’s number, in the Marryat code, flies at the mizzen above a red ensign. The number, below a Marryat second-distinguishing pennant, is 8497 but this is artist error: the correct one for ‘Eurydice’ was 4897.

‘Eurydice’ was built by Fisher in New Brunswick in 1864 for the Vaughan family of Saint John, New Brunswick, and of Liverpool. It was registered in Liverpool and appears in Lloyd’s Register as owned by T. Vaughan and of 1247 tons, with measurements given as 185ft 5in x 38ft x 23ft 9in (depth in hold). Its registered voyage is given as Liverpool to India but also with the note ‘Shl. [Shields] Boston’. In 1870–71, Lloyds List shows it was in Atlantic and North Sea use, including on a voyage from Bremen to South Shields.

Another version of the painting, signed ‘W. Yorke’ (lower left), has been in the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, New Brunswick, since 1966 and is reportedly dated 1871. The ‘Eurydice’ appears exactly the same in both versions of the picture – including the Marryat-code error – but appears in the Beaverbrook painting with a paddle-steamer and another schooner, in different aspect, off Point Lynas to the left and with a sailing ship in distant bow view at far right.

The artist is likely to be William Gay York[e] (1817–93), who was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, and added the ‘e’ to his name in about 1863 when working in Liverpool. He died in New York on 1 February 1893.

The painting was previously attributed to Yorke’s son, William Howard Yorke (1847–1921). Both father and son worked in a similar artistic style. However, comparison of the signatures suggests that William Gay is artist, since he tended to sign his work ‘W. Yorke’ prior to his move to New York in 1871, at which point he switched to using ‘W.G.’. Meanwhile, his son tended to use both his initials (‘W.H.’) when signing his work. The Beaverbrook version of the painting is attributed to William Gay. See also A.S. Davidson’s discussion of the paintings in ‘Marine Art & Liverpool: Painters, Places & Flag Codes, 1760–1960’ (Wolverhampton: Waine Research, 1986), p. 98.