Artwork description:

Never say die

In a last ditch bid to stay alive, 28-year old James McIntosh ate his hat as he sat freezing in an open boat lost in the Arctic Ocean. Starvation, exposure and madness from drinking seawater had already killed the other four men who’d entered the small boat with him, days before.

The boat McIntosh struggled for life in belonged to the whaling ship ‘Chieftan’. Her crew had launched out from the mother ship in pursuit of bottle-nosed whales but the small boat had been swallowed in fog and lost. The Chieftan was part of Victorian Dundee’s whaling fleet, a desperate trade causing the destruction of men, ships and beautiful sea creatures.

More days drifted past until finally McIntosh was found. He was hacked out of the frozen boat and ultimately shipped back to Dundee. Both his legs had to be amputated below the knee. Even so, he’d survived the ordeal and became a level-crossing attendant at Broughty Ferry and something of a local celebrity. He married and had six sons and four daughters.

This is a relief print pulled from an engraving in rubber. The edition made 7 copies only. The print will fit straight into a standard 10x12 inch frame.

Materials used:

Black oil based printing ink, Hahnemuhle etching paper 300gsm

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