Unsigned original watercolor of three-quarter bow and port-side view of a whaleship heading towards the home port. Her sails pull in the wind.
"Showing in the distance, at right, No Man's Land situated off Gay Head, the Indian settlement on Martha's Vineyard, and at the left, Gay Head itself. Those on board are doubtless looking forward to getting home as the voyages often lasted from two to four years. One captain forgot to kiss his wife on departing and when chaffed later on having neglected this customary act of devotion, he is said to have remarked in his defense, 'Well, we expected to be gone only two years.'"
See Allan Forbes, Whale Ships and Whaling Scenes as Portrayed by Benjamin Russell. Presenting Reproductions in Color of the Paintings of the Foremost Artist in That Field (Boston: Printed for the Second Bank-State Street Trust Co, 1955), 75.
