Joseph Heard (1799- 1859) did oil on canvas paintings depicting ships on sailing seas and coming into harbor. Captains were capable recorders of their surroundings and though Heard had probably never visited some of the ports, sketches of them could have been provided by the ship’s masters.

Busy harbors with legions of vessels provided ship portrait painters with the greatest possibility for commissions. Liverpool harbor was treed with masts. Emigrants coming to the United States provided an enduring procession of people escaping famine, economic distraught and religious persecution. At the height, nearly 4000 Irish immigrants alone, per day, booked passage on some ship bound for the United States. Many notable figures stand out for...