Gildersleave, Charles F.
1860

Steam Ship Commodores and United States Mail Contractors

SOLD

The Great Pictorial Romance of the Age or Steam Ship Commodores and United States Mail Contractors

DESCRIPTION: SOLD

Pre-civil war lithographed political cartoon on the topic of awarding contracts to carry the mail by steamboat from New York to San Francisco via Nicaragua. Many of the references in the cartoon are now opaque but in the 1850's contracts to carry the U.S. Mail were the subject of great controversy and competition. This cartoon reflects that competition in the context of the leading-edge technologies of that time.

At center a gas-filled balloon labeled "California Mail Balloon via Nicaragua" rises above the sea. Mail transport by balloon was first attempted in the United States in 1859 by John Wise aboard the balloon 'Jupiter'. Not a commercial success, nevertheless it was doubtless a major topic of conversation in that period.

Below another figure balances two steamboats (Star of the West and Moses Taylor) on a pole as he walks a high-wire strung between two steamships shaped as rocking horses. One ship is labeled U.S.M. (U.S. Mail Steamship Company) and the other Cornelius Vanderbilt's Independent Line steamer 'Northern Light' which operated between Nicaragua and New York City. At left, aboard the ship 'Baltic' a gentleman in top hat (Edward Knight Collins ?) watches through a telescope. The 'Baltic' a 282 foot wooden-hulled sidewheel steamboat was owned by the American Collins Line, a competitor to Vanderbilt, and was for five years the fastest steamship in the Atlantic. Ships mentioned include: 1) The 'San Francisco' a 280 foot steamship owned by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company . 2) S.S. Moses Taylor owned by the U.S. Mail Steamship Company. 3) The 'Star of the West' , a paddlewheel steamer owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt (known as the 'Commodore') one of the richest men in the United States with extensive interests in steamboats. The vessel was launched in 1852 and from July 1853 to March 1856 was operated on a mail route between New York City and San Juan de Nicaragua.

CREATOR: Gildersleave, Charles F.

PUBLICATION DATE: 1860

GEOGRAPHIC AREA: United States

BODY OF WATER: N/A

CONDITION: Good Small tear at lower left just intruding into neatline. Other repaired tears in the wide margins well away from the image. Uniformly browned.

COLORING: None

ENGRAVER: Unknown

SIZE: 17 " x 13 "

ITEM PHYSICAL LOCATION: 0

PRICE: $

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