In this full port beam view, John Hughes presents a fine portrait of the American full rigged ship M.P. GRACE approaching Liverpool with South Stack, Angelesey coming up just under her bowsprit. Note top-hatted Captain Robert Wilbur, the vessel's first master, on deck reading signals from the Holyhead Signal Station through his long glass.
Hughes' detailed draftsmanship portrays the wooden hulled GRACE, built by Chapman & Flint of Bath, Maine in 1875 with all sail set, striving for a record run to Liverpool. Nice detail is shown in the deck structures and layout and the elegant scrollwork on her bows.
The 1,928.13 gross-ton M.P. GRACE was 229.9 feet in length with a beam of 42.1 feet and a draught of 19.7 feet. Her first home port was New York. In 1898 she became a salmon packer with the San Francisco fleet of George W. Hume & Co. where she worked steadily until 1906.
