Wreck Survivors Saved from Sea—Read all About It!
Read the incredible 1917 NY Times article about the tragic fate of the schooner depicted in this Solon Badger painting.
Amy, from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, arrived at ROADSHOW's 2011 event in Tulsa with a painting of a handsome schooner that had been passed down in her family from her great-grandfather, Marcus L. Urann—the founder of Ocean Spray Cranberries and also the owner of the ship depicted in the painting. Appraiser Betty Krulik informed Amy that she had a particularly fine example of a ship portrait by Solon Badger—a well-known Boston ship portraitist from the turn of the 20th century. Details in Amy's painting, including the ship's five masts and its American flag, made her example rare and added significantly to the value of the piece, which Krulik estimated at $35,000 if the painting were to be restored.
After battling two massive storms, the schooner, along with 11 of the crew members and passengers on board, was lost to sea. The three survivors of the ordeal shared their story.
Perhaps even more alluring, though, is the story behind that particular ship. As if taken directly from a Romantic novel, a dramatic New York Times article published on January 6th, 1917, details the ship's tragic last voyage and recounts the heroic ordeal of those who survived. It begins in New York, as city dwellers huddle against the cold of a predicted blizzard heading up the coast, hoping it will spare them. Little do they know that the blizzard had already taken its toll... on the crew and passengers of the Marcus L. Urann...
Related
Read "Three Wreck Survivors Saved From The Sea" from nytimes.com
