Sailing mail schooner the 'Douglas' entering Douglas harbour
Date made: 1840
Artist: unknown artist
Description: The Sailing Mail Schooner ‘Douglas’ was one of a number of sailing vessels which brought goods and letters to and from the Isle of Man in the late 18th and early 19th century. When the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company was formed in 1830, they began to replace such sailing vessels bringing passengers, goods and letters to and from the Island.
Before 1767, any communication between the Isle of Man and the "adjacent islands" was by means of vessels sailing at irregular intervals, usually from Whitehaven or Liverpool. But in that year the English Government established a regular "packet" boat for the conveyance of passengers and mails between Whitehaven and Douglas. The "packet" left Whitehaven ("wind and weather permitting") on Monday, and resumed from Douglas on the following Thursday. The uncertainty of the passage by this and other vessels is illustrated by the fact that the mail-packet from Whitehaven regularly got stuck in heavy storms, and sometimes they Island had to wait six weeks to get post.
Under favourable circumstances, however, the passage between Douglas and Whitehaven, and vice versa, was accomplished in about six hours.
In addition to the mail service two regular trader sloops, plied between Douglas and Liverpool. Cargoes were so small that it was not usually worth their while to make the passage out and home more than once a month. By 1793, however, traffic had enormously increased, and by 1805 there were six regular traders taking on an average a fortnight for the double journey. The best known of these traders were the "Duke of Atholl," the "Duchess of Atholl," the "Douglas," the "Earl of Surrey," and the ''Union.''
Notwithstanding the advent of the steamers, sailing packets continued to carry the mails till 1825, and to did a large share of the passenger traffic, and practically the whole of the goods traffic, between Liverpool and the Island, till about 1834.
By about 1842 the regular sailing traders had ceased to run between Liverpool and the Island.
Measurements: unframed artwork: 47 cm x 67 cm
Materials: oil on canvas
Object name: painting
Collection: Art Collection
ID number: 1954-1074
Subject tags : Isle of Man