Artwork description:

Baychimo

After the First World War the Hamburg owners of the steamship Baychimo were obliged to hand her over to the United Kingdom as part of Germany’s war reparations. From 1921 the Hudson Bay Co. used her to trade between Ardrossan, Scotland and the north coast of Canada, exchanging provisions for furs with Inuit hunters.
On the tenth such trip on 8th October 1931 with her holds already loaded with furs, Baychimo became locked in pack ice. Expecting to have to sit out the winter with her, half the crew were airlifted home, and those remaining built a wooden hut nearby to live in. On 24th of November a heavy blizzard swept in, trapping the men inside the hut. When the storm subsided there was no sign of the ship. Her Captain concluded that she must have sunk but a few days later an Inuit hunter reported seeing the ship 45 miles away. The crew tracked Baychimo down but expecting her to break up and sink, they off-loaded the most valuable furs and abandoned the ship to her fate. However Baychimo did not sink and became a legendary ghost ship, sighted the following year 300 miles away to the east. She was seen and sometimes boarded in various locations over the next 38 years but no one was able to take command of her. The last reported sighting was by Inuit in 1969. What became of her after is unknown. In 2006, the Alaskan government declared its’ determination to settle the case of "the Ghost Ship of the Arctic" and locate Baychimo, whether still afloat or on the ocean floor. Ten years on she has not been found.

This print is pulled from an engraving cut from a sheet of rubber, a variation of letterpress. After removal of areas that are to be left as white paper, the rubber sheet is then rolled up with ink and pressed to paper, producing the print. The technique does not accommodate reprinting, so the edition is forever fixed at 6 copies.

This print will fit straight into a 10x12 inch frame.

Materials used:

Black oil based printing ink, Hahnemuhle etching paper 300gsm

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