The complete beauty of San Francisco Bay, a small segment of it caught as a backdrop by West Coast marine art master David Thimgan. The Ship BERLIN is under tow, headed for the mouth of the Golden Gate and beyond, as one of the last true deep-water wood sailing ships in the world. The chill Pacific waters are vivid blue, the fog holds down the upper reaches of the Mendocino headlands, and the crew of the San Francisco lumber schooner HELEN S. THACKER watches the departure.

BERLIN launched out of the Phippsburg, Maine yard of C.V. Minott, who owns the title of the builder of the last Downeasters to ply the trades. The 1882 full-rigged ship BERLIN measured 222'5"L x 40'B x 24'D with a gross tonnage of 1634, 1553 Net tonnage, of solid wood. She sailed as a Cape Horner for eight years, making a fastest passage eastward from San Francisco to Philadelphia of 117 days, and one eastward voyage to Liverpool from California in 107 days. BERLIN sold in 1890 to San Francisco interests in the coal trade, and then to the Alaska Portland Packers Association in 1897 to carry salmon. She ran successfully until lost in a wreck off Alaska in 1922. This painting is an excellent example from what is the artist’s best period of work.

Size: 14 x 20 Inches Dated (verso): 1998 $17,500.00
Dated Verso with title by artist.
Provenance: Private East Coast Collection.