Montague Dawson excels at portraying the perilous drama of facing a raging sea within this maritime narrative painting of a merchant sailing ship and her stalwart crew navigating the ocean of the Southern Hemisphere. He shows the tough conditions possible in this sought-after on-deck scene with the rig bracing the sails tight, a lifeboat stowed over the cabins, as an officer shouts orders to the men racing to stabilize the ship. A massive swell tops the rail as a chill snowfall makes the tasks that much more challenging.

The westerly winds responsible for driving record runs of ships while sailing the southern hemisphere would also produce magnificently perilous seas. Dawson’s tribute of the moment to the stalwart men and ships whom met the challenge on the east bound route around Cape Horn is a third-person elevated view of a moment of decision. Sailors attend to the vital tasks on deck of reefing the sails, battening the hatches and just hanging on.

Once the Far East Trade opened to all nations in the 19th Century, many sailing merchants took on the perilous routes to the Asian and Australian continents, and many stood “with a bone in her teeth” against the swells of the 40th Parallel, from which the roaring 40s earned its name in the maritime pursuit. Dawson’s expertise with brush and emotional context in oil rivals these master mariners in the days of merchant sail.

A famous work of art by the prodigious and prolific Montague Dawson, “Night Suspect” proved to be a perfect choice by the artist for exhibition in the 1958 Royal Society of Marine Painters’ London Guildhall. The impact of the drama shown on deck and its personalization of the chase of the smugglers by the Royal Navy Revenue Service sailors, cannons blazing, is amazing. We know of less than six other Dawson works that display such a precise view of action ondeck, including the iconic “The Rising Wind”, widely recognized due to prints featuring that painting. None of these other deck scenes are of a ship engaged in a pursuit, firing cannons.

Dawson said he himself “battled” through his blank canvases, from sketches, models and preliminary paintings to deliver his large scale masterpieces. He was known for working day and night, driven to succeed and finding a personal joy at his chosen profession. As a young man his family lived in Southampton in the residence known then and now as “The Smuggler’s House”, and he served firsthand in the British Navy Reserve and was well familiar with the last sail/steam warships of the British Navy. Likely he’d have held sympathy for both crews he has painted in this masterpiece.

In an action taking place within the English Channel, possibly the approach to Deal, a known haven for smugglers, Dawson’s Revenue Service men have sighted and sprung upon a brigantine. Dawson has the full moonlight glorious catching the ships and sea, making the potentially deadly action radiate with the romance of adventure on the high seas. This work has it all.

A striking work by the artist Montague Dawson, best known for painting such ships on open driving oceans. The sharp bodied hull in a brilliant white with a red-oxide coloration at the barely visible waterline is moving smartly over the ocean, with nearly every sail in its contingent set. It is our belief that this ship’s identity may come with additional research, as an American ship with such a look would be known to some people on sight, including the men shown on its deck.

The composition has nice touches pulled from Dawson’s overall repertoire, and the shore of the distant headland, with a fore-and-aft rigged vessel, give the sailing ship a nice sense of scale. She is moving rapidly, with assist from the stuns’ls wide on each wooden yard. The natural wood coloration at the rail harkens back to the best ships of the world’s sailing navies.

From where Dawson garnered his inspiration for this excellent work remains to be discovered. He often worked in smaller sketches, and with models, and the titles of most of his works were recorded in L.G.G. Ramsey’s catalogue of paintings by the artist in 1967. Every element that is sought in his art, from the deep impasto flourish of a white-capped blue-green sea, an atmosphere of complementary coloration with blue sky and moving clouds, and a spectacular driven and detailed ship, is present in this painting.