Description:
Greyish-bodied ovoid stoneware jug made by Thomas Crafts (1781-1861), which is stamp-impressed "T.CRAFTS & CO / WHATELY / 3." The incesied decoration, which runs around the shoulders, depicts a fort flying the British flag from which four rowboats have been launched full of men with muskets heading towards the anchored steamship inscribed "Carolina"; the ship has her crew on deck, a bellowing smoke stack, and a 28-star American flag flying from the bow; to the left of the ship are fish in the water, Niagara Falls, and a small domed island below the falls.This jug commemorates the attack on the American steamship "Caroline" by Canadian militiamen sent by the British commander, Colonel Allan N. MacNab, while the ship was lying at port in the Niagara River on December 29, 1837. This ship transported provisions and recruits to Navy Island where William MacKenzie's Canadian rebels and American sympathizers had retreated after the abortive 1837 Upper Canadian Rebellion. On the night of December 29th, Canadian militia, led by Commander Andrew Drew, Royal Navy, boarded the Caroline, killed one of her crew, and destroyed the ship by sending it over Niagara Falls. The attack breached George Washington's 1793 proclamation of neutrality, and consequently revived anti-British sentiment in America. Thomas Crafts may have learned of this incident from accounts published in the "Greenfield Gazette and Mercury" on January 9, 1838. Crafts was one of the most successful potters in Whately (a town just south of Deerfield). He started making glazed redware pottery in 1802, developing a successful teapot business; he switched to salt-glazed stoneware in 1833 and was active until 1848, turning over the business to his sons. The jug has a beveled base and sides curving outwards until approximately 1/2 of the distance up, and then curving in towards the lip. The strap handle with its three incised grooves is attached to the lip and shoulder. The salt glaze is thick; the interior is coated with Albany slip. There are spots of Albany slip on the lip.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+89.048 |
