A painter, muralist, Warren Chase Merritt was born in Randsburg, California on December 3, 1897. As a young boy Merritt sketched ships along the Eureka waterfront. He was fascinated by the sea and his childhood along the coast had a great influence on his future work.

When he was about 14, his father, manager of the North Pacific Steamship Company, was drowned in the wreck of the Hanalei off Ducksbury Reef. Soon thereafter, the Merritt family moved to Sausalito and he enrolled at the CSFA for one term while working as a commercial artist. In 1929 the Crown Zellerbach Corporation commissioned him to paint his first mural, the history of paper making and shipping in the San Francisco Bay area. Throughout

Source: Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940"
Artists of the American West (Doris Dawby); California State Library (Sacramento); Who's Who in American Art 1938-41.

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