Illustration for "The Whaler Fleet" by William Shakespeare Burton (1824-1916)

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Illustration for "The Whaler Fleet" by Arthur Munby (1828-1910)

William Shakespeare Burton (1824-1916)

Engraver: Joseph Swain

1864

Wood engraving

6½ x 4¾ inches (16.5 12.0 cm)

Once a Week XI, 26 November 1864, p. 638

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This appeared as an illustration for a ballad by the poet and well-known diarist Arthur Munby in Once a Week. After waiting longingly and anxiously for many months for the whaler fleet to return, the speaker, a young woman, rejoices in its arrival, only to find that her own sweetheart has not come home: his ship, the Mary Jane, had gone down. Anxiety is the keynote here, with the one figure, boldly drawn, standing at the harbour wall, leaning forward and gripping its edge. Her hair streams in the wind as she fixes her eyes intently on the sea:

But where, oh where, is the Mary Jane,
Now the wind blows in from sea?
There's many a lad hath clipt [clasped] his lass,
And when doth my lad clip [clasp] me? [639]

Link to Related Material

Arthur J. Munby

Bibliography

Once a Week Vol. X1 (26 November 1864): 638. Internet Archive. Web. 18 June 2024.

Created 18 June 2024