Thomas Dutton.

The Sutlej East Indiaman, 1200 tons
To Captain H. N. A. James & the Officers of the Ship, our print is respectfully dedicated by their obedient servant W.m Foster.

24½ x 21 inches

Hand coloured lithograph by Thomas Dutton, published in London by William Foster in 1847.

There is a corresponding print to this one showing the Sutlej shipwrecked off the Cape of Good Hope in April 1848 so we can assume that this 1200 ton East Indiaman had a very short trading career sailing between London and Calcutta. She was built in 1847 and is seen here sailing from Portsmouth Harbour surrounded by other sailing ships, a traditional warship and two steamships. As such, this print illustrates the variety of craft at sea during the early Victorian era and shows the transition from naval warfare to England's importance in expanding trade routes, passenger transportation and the increasingly significant yachting industry. Throughout this period when Britain's dockyards were building an unprecedented number of beautiful ships there was one man who dominated the artistic field, meticulously recording each vessel for posterity.

Thomas Goldsworthy Dutton (1820-1891) was an extraordinary artist and watercolourist of maritime subjects but it was at lithography that he excelled. The National Maritime Museum at Greenwich owns an almost complete collection of his wonderfully detailed lithographs and it is thanks to him that we have such an accurate record of C19th British maritime history.

£950