This museum quality print of Pilot Schooner No., Thomas Howard is available from the Lewes Historical Society.

The Lewes Historical Society's famous oil painting of "Pilot Schooner No. 1, Thomas Howard" is a beautiful reminder of the days of sail and of Lewes's close connection with the sea. The painting is now available as a museum quality print from the Lewes Historical Society. Sales of the $30 poster benefit the long-term mission of the Society to preserve and celebrate Lewes's past.

The painting, donated to the Society in 1971 by Dr. James E. Marvil, was painted c. 1880 most likely by a "C. Knight." Depicting the schooner off Cape Henlopen under threatening skies, the print would make an elegant addition to any family room, office, home office or collection. The painting was photographed and the print designed by Kevin Fleming. The Pilots' Association for the Bay & River Delaware generously underwrote the cost of the print.

The ship was a mainstay of the Pilots' Association for the Bay & River Delaware and served some of the most prominent pilot families of Lewes such as the Chambers, Conwell, Clampitt, Edwards, Kelley, Long, Marshall, Maull, Mason, Norman, Orton, Poynter, Price, Parker, Rutherford and Schellenger clans. The schooner is referred to in the diary of pilot James A. Orton when in 1880, he notes that he boarded the barque "Xenophon" from the Thomas Howard on January 14 and noted that the wind was from the southeast. Five days later, Captain Orton boarded the "Ashburne," a steamer headed for Philadelphia, and anchored above Overfalls Shoal at the mouth of Delaware Bay. The logs of the schooner "Thomas Howard" are available for research and are a part of the Journal Library at the Society.

The painting can be seen in the Pilots Room in the Cannonball House on Front Street. To purchase the print or to find out more about the Society, please call 645-7670 or email development@historiclewes.org.

©2002-2005 The Lewes Historical Society