Lot 4000: Reginald Arthur Borstel (Australian, 1875-1922) The square rigger 'John Ena' in Australian waters 20 x 30 1/4in

The square rigger 'John Ena' in Australian waters
signed and dated 'R.A. Borstel 1916' (lower left); inscribed 'John Ena' (lower center) and inscribed 'Laidlaw & Harris / 64 Union St. Pyrmont, Sydney NSW' (lower right)
oil on canvas
20 x 30 1/4in

PROVENANCE:
James Rolf, San Francisco, California;
Private collection, San Francisco, California.

The 'John Ena' was a four-masted bark built by Robert Duncan and Co., Ltd. at Port Glasgow, Scotland in 1892. With a length of 312 feet, she had a beam of 48 feet, weighed 2,842 tons and carried 72,000 square feet of sail. Under the Hawaiian flag she was engaged in the sugar trade between Honolulu and the U.S. mainland and in 1910 she made a record run from Honolulu to New York City via Cape Horn in 84 days. She met her end during a storm in 1926 off the California coast. An adventurous 105 day journey from Honolulu to Philadelphia in 1911 on the 'John Ena' was later recounted by C. Ray Wilmore in his book 'Square Rigger Round the Horn'.