2017 Coeur d’Alene Art Auction / Lot 171
171
Montague Dawson (1890 – 1973)
The 'Torrens' in California Waters
oil on canvas
28 × 42 inches
signed lower left
Torrens (1875-1910) was a clipper ship designed to carry passengers and cargo between London and Port Adelaide, South Australia. She was the fastest ship to sail on that route, and the last sailing ship on which Joseph Conrad served before embarking on his writing career. Registered as 1,276 tons, she was of composite construction—steel-framed with teak planking—222 feet long, with a beam of 38 feet and depth 21 feet 6 inches. It is likely that the vessel was named in honor of Colonel Robert Torrens, a principal exponent of the economic benefits of nineteenth-century colonial trade.