Sampson and Schley Leading the Fleet into New York Harbor, August 20, 1898
c. 1898
Fred Pansing (1844 -1912)
Oil on canvas, 19 X 42 (framed)
Signed lower right: Fred Pansing
Gift of Dwight Franklin, M31.94.7

 

This naval parade, which traveled north from the Narrows through New York Harbor to this point in the Hudson River, honored Admiral William Thomas Sampson (1840 - 1902) and Commodore Winfield Scott Schley (1839 -1911). The gala procession followed their victory over the Spanish at the battle of Santiago, Cuba, on July 3, 1898, and follows the long-standing New York tradition of celebratory arrivals in the city, whether on land or on water.¹ The fleet, accompanied by numerous police vessels, tugboats, and passenger-bearing excursion boats, is shown steaming past Manhattan's west shore, where Grant's Tomb, built in 1897, can be seen.

Admiral Sampson's flagship, the cruiser New York, heads the line, followed by battleships, first the Iowa and then the Indiana. The fourth ship is the cruiser Brooklyn, Commodore Schley's ship, followed by the Massachusetts, the Oregon (both sister ships of the Iowa), and the Texas and several other unidentifiable vessels.² On the day following the parade, the New York Times, in a lengthy article describing the event, emphasized the populist spirit that predominated. Headlines noted "Cheers for Sailors" and "Tenement Residents Particularly in Evidence among the Spectators," while the article described "a welcome to the white-uniformed sailors . . . the ones who did the hard work, the unnamed heroes . . . It was peculiarly a day for the common people, afloat and ashore."³

Grant's Tomb was the landmark for the end of the parade route, and there a twenty-one-gun salute was fired before the New York turned to lead the fleet back downriver. The artist chose to represent the moment the salute was fired (11:37 a.m., according to the Times), depicting puffs of smoke at the gun ports of the first three ships.

The bright, clear day, the flags, and the enthusiastic observers on the small vessels enhance Pansing's conveyance of patriotic zeal. The viewpoint at water level accentuates the forward momentum and power of the ships. Pansing's skill in capturing the details of the vessels, found as well in his painting The Plymouth (also in the Museum's collection), is intensified by his overall artistic competence in using light, color, and viewpoint to create a stimulating depiction of a major historical event. His skillful rendering of ships in frontal and three-quarter views gives the vessels a less static appearance than the more conventional port-side views.⁴

Notes:

  1  Sampson and Schley were, in fact, at odds over credit for the victory at Santiago. Sampson had planned the attack but was not present for the battle, which was therefore directed by Schley, next in command, who then claimed the victory. See "Sampson, William Thomas" and "Schley, Winfield Scott," in The New Columbia Encyclopedia, ed. William H. Harris and Judith S. Levey (New York: Columbia University Press, 1975), pp. 2411, 2444.

  2  The Museum Archives contain a letter dated June 10, 1991, from Edward M. Furgol, curator of the Navy Museum in Washington, D. C., in which he identifies the ships and presents the idea that Schley's vessel would not have flown his flag in the presence of Sampson because of the difference in their ranks. Mr. Furgol, however, feels certain that Schley was present and aboard the Brooklyn at this event.

  3  "New York Greets Victorious Navy," New York Times, August 21, 1898.

  4  See A. J. Peluso, Jr., "Fred Who? Fred Pansing, That's Who!" Maine Antique Digest (April 1985): 24 -26. Pansing used the same technique in his portraits of individual vessels, as exemplified by The Plymouth (acc. no. 75.182.23).