Crest of the Wave was built at Thomaston, Maine, in 1854 especially for the Australian Gold Rush. After nearly twenty years in the trade, Crest of the Wave sailed for the last time in 1870 led by Captain Jones, when she left Liverpool bound for Baltimore. Tragically, Crest of the Wave encountered a gale and struck Wreck Island, fifteen miles north of Cape Charles, where all hands were lost.

In this picture, Montague Dawson depicts the clipper heeled and beating to windward. Dawson conjures up the unsettled sea state through the varying blue tones and the fine detailing of the white spray, which surrounds the ship and pours out through her gunnels. The dynamism of the painting is exacerbated by Dawson’s inclusion of a number of figures, two climbing the rigging and four on the poop deck. This serves to show the large scale of the ship, as well as reinforcing the power of the sea and perhaps the vulnerability of the ship’s crew.