When the five-masted schooner JENNIE R. DUBOIS was launched in
February of 1902, she became the largest vessel ever built on the Mystic River.
249 feet long and 2,237 tons, she was built by the Holmes Shipbuilding Company
and named for the wife of Rhode Island judge E.C. Dubois. She was built for the
lumber and coal-carrying trades and proved to be too large for the Mystic
River, having become stuck in the mud when she was launched. Hopefully the
owner of the $100,000 vessel carried enough insurance because the DUBOIS was
lost only a year and a half later in September of 1903 after being run down in the
fog near Block Island by a German steamship while carrying a load of coal. She
became a hazard to navigation and was dynamited to guarantee safe passage in
the area. Local historian Carol Kimball wrote a nice article for The Day in
2002 on the construction and demise of the DUBOIS. The schooner was rediscovered
104 years later in 2007 by a group of local divers and was once again in the
news.
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| JENNIE R. DUBOIS by S.F.M. Badger (MSM acc. # 2014.70.1) |
This painting of the JENNIE R. DUBOIS is a recent gift to
the Museum and joins another painting of the DUBOIS in the Museum’s possession
(accession number 1957.10), both by the same artist, S.F.M. Badger. Solon
Francis Montecello Badger was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts in 1873 and died as a relatively young man in 1919. Having studied under William
P. Stubbs in his youth, Badger’s style is very reminiscent of Stubbs’ work.
Mystic Seaport is very happy that the donors of the painting decided to keep it in the Mystic area where it will be truly appreciated.