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M5. Charles Morgan in whaling, circa 1880

The Charles W. Morgan was an American whaling ship during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Ships of this type usually harvested the blubber of whales for whale oil, and would travel the entire globe in search of their prey, as captured by Herman Melville in his great novel Moby Dick. Today, the ship is an exhibit at the Mystic Seaport museum in Mystic, Connecticut. Charles W. Morgan is both the world's oldest surviving merchant vessel and the only surviving wooden whaling ship from the 19th century American merchant fleet.

In this painting, Charles W. Morgan has reached the edge of the world, and even its highest masts are overshadowed by a towering ice shelf. The diagonal lines of the water lead the viewer’s eye to the vessel, while also making the ship seem hemmed in. The distant water line gives the portrait depths and provides a path forward for the ship. 

The masts and the small boat in the foreground provide a sense of balance against the horizontal and diagonal lines of the hull and ice shelf.