Lot 66: Édouard Adam (French, 1847-1929) The full-rigger King Ceolric running down the coast under full sail

The full-rigger King Ceolric running down the coast under full sail
signed 'Ed Adam', inscribed 'Havre' and dated 1881 (lower right)
oil on canvas
85 x 130cm (33 1/2 x 51 1/4in).

Named for an ancient King of Wessex who died in 597A.D., the wooden full-rigged ship King Ceolric was built to his own account by J.K. Dunlop at St. John, New Brunswick (Canada) in 1875. Registered at 1,612 tons gross (1,564 net), she measured 222 feet in length with a 40 foot beam and thus had impressive capacity for cargo. After a modest maiden voyage, her second took her to the eastern ports of South America after which she stayed in European waters for several years. On her sixth voyage, she left Havre bound for Cardiff on 12th July 1881 and it is probable that the portrait offered here was painted prior to her departure. Subsequently sold to Swedish owners who renamed her Prince Albert, she thereafter traded out of the Norwegian port of Christiania in a successful career lasting until the middle of the first decade of the twentieth century.