Oil Painting, Black Ball Packet Ship <I>Isaac Webb</I>
date: label: Date made
content: 1851
label: ship was launched
content: 1851
label: ship made transatlantic voyages from New York and Liverpool
content: 1851-1880
label: ship was abandoned
content: 1880-10
name: label: shipping firm
content: Black Ball Line
label: shipbuilder
content: Webb, William H.
label: ship's namesake
content: Webb, Isaac
label: maker
content: Walters, Samuel
notes: label: Description
content: Operating out of New York, the Black Ball Line pioneered scheduled packet ship service to Liverpool, England in 1818, and the firm continued operating until it was dissolved in 1879. Its success resulted from focusing on the lucrative passenger trade, at a time when immigration to the United States was at its highest level.
label: Description
content: In 1851, the massive three-deck packet <I>Isaac Webb</I> was the seventh and last Black Baller launched from the shipyard of famous New York shipbuilder William H. Webb, who also owned a 1/16 share of the ship. Named after the builder’s father, the <I>Isaac Webb</I> measured 185 feet in length and 1,359 tons. It made about four round trips per year between New York and Liverpool, England from 1851–1879. The average length of a passage was 37 days, with the shortest voyage recorded as 25 days.
label: Description
content: In June 1863, while westbound from Liverpool to New York with 658 passengers, the <I>Isaac Webb</I> was captured by the Confederate commerce raider <I>Florida</I>. A bond for a $40,000 ransom freed the ship to complete the passage. In late December 1866, while westbound for New York, the <I>Webb</I> encountered a gale so cold that it killed three crew, and several others were badly frostbitten. On the same passage nearly two years later, another powerful gale killed the captain.
label: Description
content: The <I>Isaac Webb</I> continued to sail after the Black Ball Line closed. In late October 1880, while bound from Europe to New York, it was abandoned at sea by its crew of 24, who were rescued by a passing steamship bound for Boston. British marine painter Samuel Walters completed this oil painting around 1851, when the ship was new.
place: label: where ship was built
content: United States: New York, New York
label: ship sailed to
content: United Kingdom: England, Liverpool
topic: label: related event
content: Expansion and Reform
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
label: See more items in
content: Transportation
label: See more items in
content: On the Water exhibit
label: See more items in
content: Art
label: Exhibition
content: On the Water
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: National Museum of American History. On the Water exhibition website
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TR.317527
label: catalog number
content: 317527
label: accession number
content: 229943
objectType: label: Object Name
content: painting, oil, Black Ball packet
label: Other Terms
content: painting, oil, Black Ball packet; Maritime
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: oil on canvas (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 35 1/2 in x 50 in; 90.17 cm x 127 cm