A hand-colored port-side view lithograph of the clipper ship, 'Comet' built by William H. Webb of New York for Bucklin & Crane. She was originally built for the California-Far East trade. She made a record in 1853 and 1854 for a 76-day, 7-hour passage from San Francisco to New York. At the time, that was the fastest record to that port ever and the second fastest on record from San Francisco to the East Coast port. In 1854, she carried coal from Liverpool to Hong Kong, and in 1857 she sailed in the Pacific in the guano trade. In early 1863, she was sold at London and acquired by James Baines & Co. for operation in their Australian Black Ball Line and renamed 'Fiery Star.' She was lost in 1865 during a trip from Moreton Bay, Australia to London after her wool cargo caught on fire. 18 crewmen died aboard the burning ship and a lifeboat with 80 other crew and passengers were lost at sea. The ship portrait was made before 1865, as the flag is an American flag. Another large sailing vessel is visible in the right background.
On the verso is a partially visible graphite drawing of an at least two-masted, square-rigged ship with a flag flying on the foremast. The drawing appears to have been made before the lithograph was trimmed.
See Glenn A. Knoblock. 'American Clipper Ship, 1845-1920: A Comprehensive History, with a Listing of Builders and Their Ships' (McFarland, 2014), 333.
