Some highly regarded marine artists have spent time working at sea, and while many mariners practiced some artistic discipline, very few ever made the transition from amateur to a full career of a professional artist. Captain C.K. Miller is a shining exception, alongside the ranks of William Coulter and Charles Robert Patterson. The Scottish-born artist took to the sea at 15 on the Steamship CORREO, and took to sketching scenes from his voyages.

Born in Dundee, where the eastern ports offered positions mostly on Artic whalers and fishing fleets, Miller decided to serve out of Glasgow, Whitehaven and Liverpool as well over the next ten years, earning his master's certificate in 1861, and captaining voyages to the Far East. Paintings f...