She was one of the finest and fastest sailing ships of her day.
And on the 160th anniversary of her construction in Aberdeen in 1855, an oil painting of the clipper Star of Peace, has been sold for £82,188 at an auction in America.
The sum was more than double the £26,000-£40,000 it had been expected to fetch.
Star of Peace was built by Walter Hood, at his yard next to Pocra Jetty, in Aberdeen, and was one of several clippers Mr Hood’s firm produced for George Thompson junior’s Aberdeen White Star Line.
The ships sailed mainly to Australia, often taking emigrants Down Under and bringing wool back to Britain.
The eye-catching Star of Peace had two decks, three masts and a full length female figurehead.
She was skippered by the legendary Captain Hugh Sproat, one of the best known passage makers of the day.
Captain Sproat also skippered Star of Peace’s sister clipper, Phoenician, and an 1850 oil painting of the is owned by Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museum.
Captain Sproat owned 25% of Star of Peace, while shipbuilder Walter Hood owned four of the sixty four shares in the ship.
The oil painting of Star of Peace sold for £82,188 at Sotheby’s
in New York.
The picture is particularly valuable because it is by Montague Dawson (1890-1973), one of Britain’s finest 20th century marine artists.
According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, by the 1960s, Dawson was reputed to be the highest paid living artist after Picasso.