Port Said Coaling Party. R. T. Pritchett (1828–1907). c. 1887. Photography © Maggs Bros. Ltd. 2023, reproduced here by kind permission. [Click on this and the following image to enlarge them.]
This is one of the watercolours worked up from Pritchett's voyage on the Liverpool-made Sunbeam with the Brasseys. The black-and-white illustration from Lady Annie Brassey's book about this last voyage, shown below, faces the introductory chapter, suggesting that it was a favourite scene from the adventure. It shows local port-workers ready in the dim light to refuel the ship — for the Sunbeam did not simply rely on sail-power, and needed regular stocking. In his own book, Lord Thomas Brassey himself explains that it may be "technically defined as a composite three-masted top-sail yard screw schooner. The engines, by Messrs. Laird, are of 70 nominal or 350 indicated horse-power, and developed a speed of 10-13 knots on the measured mile. The bunkers contain 80 tons of coal. The average daily consumption is 4 tons, and the speed 8 knots in fine weather" (68).
Port Said Coaling Party. Lady Annie Brassey, facing p.1.
As for Port Said itself, Lord Thomas Brassey writes,
Port Said has grown with the general development of traffic, and has become the most active coaling port of the world. A leading firm has, at Coaling at all times, 6,000 tons of coal in lighters ready for shipment, and an equal quantity on its wharves on shore. The operation of coaling ships with expedition has been brought to perfection at Port Said. Coal is put on board the Indian troopships at the rate of 250 tons an hour. [255]
He adds, "A detention of a day in Port Said was an acceptable rest after our long sea passage (255). One can imagine Pritchett enjoying both the atmospheric scene itself, and the leisure to draw it. The colour version is subtly enhanced by the red and yellow of the flares, and the splash of blue made by the sailor's uniform at one end of the rowing boat.
Scanned (i.e. second) image, text and formatting by Jacqueline Banerjee. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the Internet Archive and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
Brassey, Lady Annie. The Last Voyage, to India and Australia, in the "Sunbeam". Illustrated by R. T. Pritchett. London: Longman, 1889. Internet Archive. From a copy in the New York Public Library. Web. 15 September 2023.
Brassey, Lord Thomas. Voyages and Travels of Lord Brassey. Arranged and edited by Sydney Marow Eardley-Wilmot. Vol. I. London: Longmans, Green, 1895. Internet Archive, from a coy in the collections of Harvard University. Web. 15 September 2023.
Created 13 September 2023