s H.M.S. Clio, 1923 - Hull Museums Collections

H.M.S. Clio, 1923

The wooden steam corvette H.M.S. Clio was built for the Royal Navy in 1858 at the Sheerness dockyard. She measured 200 x 40 feet at a total of 2,306 tons. She did not see much action, although she sailed around the world. In 1876, having already seen eighteen years of service, she was sold to the Border Country Training Ship Company of Bangor, Wales. Young trainee sailors would often take the Clio along the north coast of Wales down to the south Devon coast. In this painting, Somerscales skilfully captures the sense of a vessel being supported by a vast ocean with dark, translucent waves used to create depth. This sense of weight and volume is characteristic of much of Somerscale's work.