Figure 1. SS Langholm, oil on board [1]
‘You paint me a ship as is like a ship….an’ that’ll do for me!’ [2]
Pierhead paintings are ship portraits, often in a naïve style, but with all details of the ship in question correct [3]. Painted for the crew and captain, sometimes in multiple copies, they were usually commissioned on the quayside and delivered at the last moment ‘at the Pierhead.’ Sold at a modest price for working men, these were not designed for the boardrooms of shipping lines, but for the homes of the men that crewed the vessels. A coloured painting gives even the humblest of vessels a greater life and vigour than a black and white photograph.
For many years there has been a puzzle as to who painted so many ship portraits, with the signature ‘H CRANE’, sometimes ‘H CRANE LONDON’, and even ‘H CRANE LONDON’ with year dates from the 1940s or 1950s (Figure 2). Paintings have been found all over Northern Europe and North America.
Figure 2. H. Crane signatures
The website Art UK has five oil paintings signed ‘H CRANE’, with the additional information of the artist’s birth, given as 1922 [4]. Two are held in the Great Yarmouth Museum collection and three in Dundee Art Gallery. Where this birth date comes from is a mystery. There must be some kind of mix-up. Perhaps it is from when one of the paintings was painted, or a date for the ship in the portrait, or just an estimated date, which has then been attributed to the other oil paintings by Crane on Art UK. H. Crane was certainly not born in 1922. These oil paintings are just a minor percentage of the output of this most prolific artist, who also painted in gouache. I have identified well over 200 paintings worldwide, many in Scandinavia, and some in the USA and Canada. All are single ship portraits, with the majority being in gouache. I am certain that this 200 is but a very small proportion of H. Crane’s actual production. All the paintings I have managed to identify are of steam or motor ships and I am unaware of Crane ever having painted a sailing ship. It may be this is why his work has not been so widely celebrated, as other pierhead painters, nor his life properly researched.
What is apparent is that there are other oil paintings from the early 20th century similar to those on Art UK, with some gouaches that in many ways were similar to the oils (Figure 3).
Figure 3. SS Italian Prince, gouache on paper [5]
Crane appears to have given up painting in oils sometime around the First World War. After that, he then only painted in gouache, usually in a squarer format. He continued to produce ship portraits right up to up until 1954 or 1955 [6]. Towards the end of the period some ship portraits are perhaps not as well painted as the earlier ones. One other distinctive thing these paintings had was that there was almost always three or four stylised seagulls flying over the foreground sea (see Figure 4).
Figure 4. Typical seagulls painted over seas
The fact that there were so many paintings covering such a long time span gave rise, at one time, to the thought that there was perhaps a father and son producing such a large body of work.
The first real clue as to who H. Crane might be, can be found in a recording of an interview with Mr. Graham Davies of Drope, Cardiff, concerning a painting in gouache of SS Madras City that he was donating to the National Museum of Wales. The painting was commissioned by Mr. Davies at the Surrey Docks, London, in 1954, whilst he was a crew member aboard the Madras City. Mr. Davies recalled that:-
‘...during the afternoon I noticed a man on the dockside with a board sketching the ship, and I went to see him at close hand. He (Mr. Crane) was a man of about sixty years of age, medium height, thin build and silver hair. It turned out that he painted ships commercially for some £3 to £5. He took his sketches home and returned the following day with the completed painting. I believe that there were possibly one or maybe two other crew members collecting pictures when he returned the following day as I went to collect mine...’ [7]
Something similar happened with Bernard Cutbush who, aged 87 in 2012, recalled that when he was crew on Northumberland, in London’s Royal Docks, he had purchased a painting of his ship, which many years later he framed with his own decorative knotted frame (Figure 5). He thought, but was not certain, that he bought it from someone who had a number of similar portraits for sale. This would have been in the 1950s [8]. Whilst the artist’s signature is all but covered by the knotted frame, Crane’s distinctive seagulls are clear.
Figure 5. Northumberland, set in a knotted frame by Bernard Cutbush [9]
That such a large body of work could be produced by a single man can be validated by the large scale production of Reuben Chappell, who it is estimated produced thousands of ship portraits – and by some estimates even as many as 12,000 – in his lifetime [10]. This could also have been true of George Race [11].
Trying to find an H. CRANE, who apparently lived or was active in London, was not easy. Working backwards, however, from the possibility that he may have died around 1955 seemed a good place to start [12]. Research finally led to a Herbert Henry Crane, born in 1877, in Finsbury, north London, to Sarah Crane (nee Fuller) and Charles J. Crane, hair dresser. The confirmation that he is the painter of ship portraits, is that in the 1901 Census he was living with his father and mother at 28 Hermit Road, West Ham, East London, and gave his occupation as Marine Artist/Sculptor’, and working ‘on own a/c’ ‘at home’ (Figure 6).
Figure 6. 1901 Crane family census extract
When he was 14, Crane had been a telegraph messenger. The reason he took up the arts may have something to do with the fact that some of his father’s family, from Bath, were photographers. However, with so many branches of the Crane family having similar names and similar ages, this may be speculation.
By the time of the 1911 Census he was 34 and married (in 1907 to Elizabeth Groves), and lived at 44 Hockley Avenue, East Ham, East London. The modest house still exists, albeit modernised (Figure 7).
Figure 7. 44 Hockley Avenue, East Ham, in 2022
He gave his occupation as ‘Artist (Painter) on own a/c at home.’ The Cranes had a daughter, Constance, aged two (born on the 5th April 1908, in East Ham). Elizabeth’s older brother, George Groves, whose occupation was given as ‘Dock Worker for the Port of London Authority’, lived with them. Hockley Avenue is near East Ham High Street and Barking Road. Although we do not know exactly how Herbert Crane travelled to the various docks, bus routes along East Ham High Street would have provided access to the Royal Docks, to the south, and those along Barking Road to the West India Docks, to the west. Both Upton Park and East Ham Stations, on the District and Hammersmith lines, were nearby and would have provided the best route to the Surrey Docks, via Whitechapel.
Although no known photograph of Herbert Crane has yet been discovered, there is an intriguing photograph in the Port of London Authority Photographic Collection at the London Museum Docklands. This dates to around 1930 and shows an unidentified ‘dock artist’ working at one of London’s enclosed docks (Figure 8) [13]. Although the actual dock and quayside are not identified, the photograph may possibly have been taken in the Greenland Dock, at the Surrey Commercial Docks. The fact that Herbert Crane is the only positively known London pierhead painter working at this time – along with the workaday dress of the photographed artist, the size of his sketch pad and that he appears to be working in watercolour – suggests that he may well be the subject of the photograph.
Figure 8. An anonymous artist on a dock quayside, around 1930 (PLA Collection, London Museum Docklands)
In the 1921 census the Cranes were still living at 44 Hockley Avenue. Indeed, Herbert lived there for the rest of his life. There were now two children, with Marguerite having been born in West Ham in 1914. Herbert gave his occupation as ‘Painter (Artist) working on his own account at home.’ This would indicate that he must somehow have managed to make enough from his commissions and sales from ship paintings to have fed his family [14]. Fairly typical examples of this bread-and-butter work can be seen in Figures 9 and 10.
Figure 9. SS Seven Seas Star gouache on paper no date [15]
Both of Crane’s daughters married in 1936; Constance to Sidney W. Bass and Marguerite to Alfred M. Carlowe. Marguerite and Alfred had a daughter Janet, born in 1938.
The 1939 Register recorded Herbert and wife Elizabeth still living at 44 Hockley Avenue. Herbert gave his occupation as ‘Commercial artist.’ Throughout his dealings with official paperwork, he seems to have struggled to find an occupation that fitted comfortably with that of a pierhead painter. He certainly continued to paint ship portraits during the war, as there is at least one dated 1940 [16]. Another dated 1941 can be seen in Figure 11.
Figure 10. Lake Kootenay of Vancouver, gouache on paper
Figure 11. Winona Park of Vancouver, gouache on paper, dated 1941
Sadly his wife Elizabeth died in 1945, the same year that his grandson Richard M. Carlowe was born to his daughter, Marguerite L. Carlowe. Typical examples of Crane’s postwar output can be seen in Figures 12 and 13.
Figure 12. Seapool, gouache on paper, dated 1950 [17]
Figure 13. Armadale, gouache on paper, dated 1952
Herbert Henry Crane continued to live at 44 Hockley Avenue where he continued painting ship portraits right up to his death in North Middlesex Hospital, Edmonton, on 30th April 1955. He is buried alongside his wife in the City of London Cemetery (Figure 14).
Figure14. Headstones of Herbert Henry Crane and his wife, Elizabeth Crane,City of London Cemetery, 2022
When Herbert died, probate of his estate was given the value £310.7s. 2d., which suggests that he did not own his house. His two sons-in-law, Sidney Bass and Alfred Carlowe, were the executors. Sidney Bass died in 1991, which may explain the Sotheby’s Auction of 1990 [18]. Constance died 1997. I do not believe they had any children.
It appears that Marguerite and Alfred Carlowe are likely to have moved to Australia, as they appear on the Australian Electoral Roll, living in Warringah, New South Wales, in 1977. By 1980, only Alfred appears on the electoral register.
It is unfortunate that I have so far been unable to trace Herbert Henry Crane’s grandchildren or great grandchildren. If they could be found, we may have a clearer idea of just how H. Crane of London managed to paint so many ship portraits for over 50 years. I hope this article will give him the honour he deserves as the last true Pierhead Artist.
Des Pawson
December 2025
Acknowledgements
First and foremost, I owe a great deal to the encouragement of Michael Charles, the lifelong student of the portraiture of the British merchant steam vessel, from folk art to fine art, whose collection includes no fewer than 103 such works by Crane and whose ongoing British Mercantile Marine Memorial Collection contains currently another 43. Thanks are also due to: David Jenkins who encouraged me and helped find some paintings: to Chris Ellmers for his help, encouragement and for drawing my attention to the photograph that appears here as Figure 8; to Terry Barns who found the Crane graves and their house; and to Geraldine McQuillan who provided information on the Crane family of Bath.
Notes and References
[1] There is no date on the painting of SS Langholm , but as it was launched in 1911 and renamed City Of Madras in 1917, it must have been painted between those two dates.
[2] C. Fox Smith ‘Pictures’, in Sea Songs and Ballads, 1917-22 (Methuen, London, 1923).
[3] For more on pierhead paintings see: Karsten Buchholz, Ship Portrait Artists (Buchholz Art Information Systems, Hamburg. 1997); Roger Finch, The Ship Painters (Terence Dalton, Lavenham, 1975); Roger Finch, The Pierhead Painters, Naive Ship-Portraits 1750-1950 (Barrie & Jenkins, London, 1983); Robert Jones, Reuben Chappell, Pierhead Painter (First Light Publishing, Halsgrove, 2006); Charles Lewis, Pierhead Paintings, Ship Portraits from East Anglia (Norfolk Museum Service. 1982); C. H. Ward-Jackson, Reuben Chappell 1870-1940 (City Art Gallery, Bristol, and the National Maritime Museum, London, 1970).
[4] The Artworks website (accessed 22.7.2022) has the following Crane ship portraits: SS Den of Crombie, SS Den of Airlie, and SS Den of Ruthven (Dundee Art Gallery); SS Sicilian, SS Ionian (Great Yarmouth Museums).
[5] The SS Italian Prince was launched on 28th July 1893 by Short Bros. of Sunderland, Yard No. 227, and was completed two months later for the Prince Steam Shipping Co. Ltd., of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Her Official Number was 101836; her Identification Hoist N.D.M.B.; her tonnage 3,083 gross, 1,998 net; and her dimensions were 338.9 feet in length x 42.2 feet in breadth x 18.2 feet in depth. Her triple expansion, three cylinder, marine steam engine was by Blair & Co. Ltd., of Stockton-on-Tees, with 250 nominal horse power. In 1898 her registration was altered to Prince Line Ltd. On 10th November 1920, while on passage from Cyprus to Liverpool carrying locust beans, she caught fire and was beached at Limassol, becoming a total loss.
[6] Lot 310 in Sotheby’s Marine Pictures and Nautical Works of Art Sale May 30th 1990, comprised 14 Gouaches, 7 of which were dated between 1949 and 1955 (not illustrated), with the smallest measuring 7x13 ½ inches and the largest 10x16 inches, estimated at £700-£1000. I suggest that these may have come from Herbert’s estate, or his son-in-law, and represent unsold paintings.
[7] From the files of Amgueddfa Cymru-National Museum of Wales.
[8] Bernard Cutbush, personal communication.
[9] The Northumberland belonged to the Federal Steam Navigation Line. She was built in 1916 and broken up in 1951, so Bernard would have bought this quite early in his Merchant Navy career.
[10] Ward-Jackson, Reuben Chappell 1870-1940; Jones, Reuben Chappell, Pierhead Painter, 26.
[11] Finch, The Ship Painters, 41 and passim.
[12] The latest dated painting in Sotheby’s Marine Pictures and Nautical Works of Art Sale May 30th 1990, is 1955.
[13] London Museum Docklands, Object ID: PLA/PLA/PM/6/7/32/2. The photograph was taken by Fox Photos photo agency, presumably for the PLA.
[14] According to the Swedish Ships Mortgage Bank 2001 Report of Accounts, which are interspersed with pierhead paintings, H. Crane was active in the first few decades of the 20th century. They show three Crane paintings in the collection of the Ǻland Maritime Museum. One is of a ship that sank 1935, one is of a ship bought into Ǻland ownership in 1930, and the other is of one that was only owned in Ǻland for two years from 1920, so it must have been painted at that time.
[15] The 1935 Lloyds Register records the 2494 ton SS Seven Seas Star, as having been built in 1920 (as the SS Antinea) by the Burntisland Ship Building Co. By 1935 the SS Seven Seas Star was owned by the Rising Sun Navigation Company and managed by Walter Vaughan, of Cardiff, which was her port of registry. As the Rising Sun Navigation Company and Walter Vaughan operated from the same Cardiff address, they are likely to have been one and the same on the ownership front. As no contemporary house flag/funnel colours have yet been discovered in any interwar published sources, Crane may have well provided something of a rare record here.
[16] Painting of the Duke of Athens, dated 1940, offered for sale on eBay in 2021 by Ranchi Art & Antiquarian Books.
[17] Seapool launched 1940 Burntisland Shipping Co sold 1951 to Hamburg America Line and renamed Grunewald.
[18] Lot 310 Sotheby’s Marine Pictures and Nautical Works of Art Sale May 30th 1990.