Catalogue Entry

This print, from the drawing by Alexander H. Wallace, and unsigned, was first attributed to Lane by Carl Crossman in his essay of 1985. It was printed by Pendleton's Lithography.

In 1835, Bangor was one of Maine’s largest and most prosperous cities, deriving its wealth from abundant forest resources and shipbuilding. Located on the Penobscot River, the city lay 24 miles north of the river’s mouth at Belfast Bay, itself an arm of Penobscot Bay. The distance from Bangor to Castine is approximately 35 miles. Wide and deep (but with a few tight channels), the river facilitated the shipping of lumber by sea for seven months out of the year, with minimal use of costlier overland transportation. Come winter, the river froze putting a stop to shipping lumber, but the shipyards remained busy, providing employment for a large part of the population. Many coastal traders would make their final voyages of the year to distant ports, finding short-haul work in those regions until spring, then return to the Penobscot region in spring.

Without recourse to the original drawing by Alexander H. Wallace, it is impossible to judge how accurately and artistically it was rendered, and how much it was changed by Lane. It is evident that the foreground vegetation, the dramatic sky, and above all, the detailed rendering of the vessels were Lane’s work. The city’s street layout is very geometric, but made less obvious by its irregular topography which Wallace’s drawing must have conveyed with accuracy.

The nautical aspects of this image show Lane’s knowledge of sailing ships in the fine detail of their hulls, sails, and rigging. Note the natural folds and wrinkles in the sails of the schooner in the foreground. While loading at wharfside, the sails are partially hoisted to dry, having been soaked with heavy dew as happens so often along the Maine coast. Without ever having visited Bangor, Lane would have known well these vessel types, so commonly were they seen in Boston and Gloucester delivering lumber from those ports.

While vessels are busy at wharfside loading lumber, the river shows numerous timber rafts coming from upriver, to be taken apart and their individual logs cut into lumber. Sawn lumber can be seen on the wharf in the foreground, to be loaded on the schooner at wharfside. Many of the schooners in this view are topsail schooners – rigged with square topsails on their fore masts to increase sail area for faster sailing downwind, and to steady their motion in heavy seas.

There remains a mystery about the original draftsman of this image, Alexander H. Wallace – and his co-owner of the copyright, William A. Gilman. Neither name has as yet been found in any directory of American artists, or of businesses in Bangor.

– Erik Ronnberg

Reference:  
George S. Wasson and Lincoln Colcord, “Sailing Days on the Penobscot” (Salem, MA: Marine Research Society, 1932), pp. 3–29, 33–37.